


Be Careful What You Wish For

by loOkMA_iTyPeLiKeDiS



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Genie/Djinn, Don't Really know What To Tag, F/M, Getting to Know Each Other, It is, Lance is a djinn, Pidge has no idea what she's gotten herself into, lmao not sure if this is angst or not either, soft angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2019-07-08 16:13:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15933959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loOkMA_iTyPeLiKeDiS/pseuds/loOkMA_iTyPeLiKeDiS
Summary: “So how does this work? I get three wishes or something?”“You actually get five wishes. And don’t even think about wishing for an unlimited amount of wishes."aka Lance is a djinn and Pidge ends up stuck with him





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea coming out of being tipsy and needed to write it TT__TT 
> 
> i'm not even fully sure what the hell this is, but whatevs

If anyone asked Pidge how the hell she managed to get back home without falling asleep at the wheel, she would never be able to give them an answer. With a loud, boisterous yawn, she climbed clumsily out of her car, her eyes drooping shut even as she moved. She grabbed her laptop bag and the bag of energy drinks she’d picked up from a convenience store on the way home and locked her car once she was sure she’d gotten what she needed.

“Morning, Katie,” Old Man Tracey crooned to Pidge softly as she locked up her car. She turned around and waved at one of the old tenants in her complex from over her shoulder. “Just getting back from work?”

The fact that the old man was up and about on his daily walk to the duck pond at the park nearby was a sheer testament to the fact that she’d definitely been up all night and morning was going to break soon. This was probably the fifth night in a row she’d barely gotten any sleep, but at this point days bled into nights bled into days and she couldn’t really tell the difference between them anymore.

“Hey, Mr. Tracey. Yeah. No one is going to see me for a couple days,” she yawned again and then gave him an apologetic look for being rude.

He chortled quietly. “My daughter sent me some fresh fruit yesterday. If you ever want a nice breakfast, please don’t hesitate to stop by. Don’t work too hard, Katie.”

“Thanks. I’ll consider it.” She gave him a friendly wave in parting and then made her way to the stairs to her place.

Twice, she almost stumbled on her own feet as she tried to hurry up the stairs, but she made it to her door in one piece and managed not to drop her keys as she struggled to get it open. She trudged inside her apartment, yawning and rubbing her sleepy eyes as she kicked off her ratty sneakers by the door and headed straight to her bedroom. Under normal circumstances, she would prefer to take a shower before going to sleep for the night (although it couldn’t really be considered the night anymore considering the sun was starting to rise). But at this point, she’d been up for almost twenty-eight hours straight, running solely on cups of coffee and red bulls (sometimes combining them both) just to finish up her deadlines for work.

Working as a video game programmer for one of the top gaming companies in the world was her absolute dream, and she was lucky to have even snagged the job right out of grad school, but she couldn’t deny that the odd, inconsistent hours put a huge strain on her body. Especially when shit like this happened. One of their storylines had to be dropped because the writer dropped out for another project and didn’t want them using it. So they’d had to scramble to fix the hole which meant that new part had to re-coded and redrawn and re-voice acted and all this other shit that took them nearly a week to do. They had to have a partially playable demo ready for the board meeting with the benefactors so they could convince them to fund the new project. And that meant nothing but perfection.

Which meant Pidge didn’t get any sleep during the duration of the work.

She was just glad that there wouldn’t be many disturbances to the long, _long_ hours she planned to sleep that day. Her right hand neighbour was a travelling sales agent and rarely home, if ever, and the apartment on the other side hadn’t been sold yet, so was currently vacant. It was super good luck and she intended to take advantage of the quiet to sleep for days. While they worked on motion capture for the next few days, she would get time off.

With another yawn, Pidge unzipped her jeans and shoved the legs down with her feet. She dropped her pants and tshirt on her bedroom floor and stumbled in the dark over shoes and piles of other stale, stinky clothes to get to her rumpled bed. Her toe caught on a hard box, and though the pain was delayed, it momentarily stunned her awake when it burst through her foot.

“Fuck…” she growled, bending down to pick up the package she’d tossed in her room the last time she’d been home.

It was a bit heavy, but her frowned loosened when she remembered that Matt had sent it to her from his little excursion to Mongolia with his girlfriend. They were doing the whole adventuring around the world thing for a year, and though she missed him terribly, at least he was finding time to send her small souvenirs and postcards—mostly postcards and pictures. Which was why this box was surprising to her, because he didn’t tend to send packages, especially ones as big as this one.

Pidge pulled on her giant baggy MIT sweater and plopped on her bed to open it up. She was tired, but ignored her fatigue momentarily, more curious about what this could be. She ripped off the tape and got the box open and stared in it in confusion.

It was a lamp.

A brass oil lamp in the shape of a teapot with a fairly long spout. It was a bit weathered with age and some parts of the copper had turned green, but it was otherwise in pretty nice shape. It looked like the kind of thing someone might find in a museum. She had no idea why Matt sent it to her. With furrowed brows, she shuffled through the box until she found the obligatory postcard from her brother.

_Heya Pidgey Pie!_

_I found this awesome looking ancient oil lamp at a market and thought you might think it was pretty cool. Probably bought it for more than twice the price it should be, but it is antique-y looking and I know you appreciate cool stuff like that. Hope work isn’t kicking your butt! Stay strong! Hugs and kisses! We’re off to Russia after this!_

_Matt_

It was attached to a picture of Matt and his girlfriend posing on their horses in a grassy plain during their trek. In the background were snowy mountains that seemed to disappear into the sky. Pidge couldn’t help but crack a small smile at the goofy faces they both were making. His girlfriend especially had distorted her face so well, she kind of looked like an alien.

Pidge set the postcard on her dresser, setting a mental reminder for herself to put it in with the other cards whenever she next woke up. She settled back against her pillows and headboard, making herself comfortable as she inspected the cool artefact. It really was awesome. The cut, the design, the engravings. However old it was, it had been well taken care of all these years.

On one side was an inscription she hadn’t noticed at first. It wasn’t in English, and given the odd symbols, she was pretty certain it wasn’t in any of the languages of the world. Pidge wouldn’t call herself a language aficionado or anything, but she’d studied _a lot_ of them and this didn’t even look remotely familiar.

There was a piece of crusty dirt covering a few of the odd symbols and Pidge scrubbed at it with her hand to clear it away. To her surprise, the fifth pass through felt decidedly hotter than before. She didn’t think the lamp was heating up necessarily, but then it happened:

The symbols suddenly glowed a brilliant azure, the light so strong it illuminated her dark room in full. Then the lamp started vibrating hard and that was the last straw. Pidge was way too tired to properly react to the damn thing glowing and shaking, but this reeked of one of Matt’s practical jokes. He was definitely trying to scare her or freak her out and she didn’t have the patience to deal with that. Pidge cocked her arm back and launched the damn thing as hard as she could at her wall. It made a very loud bang, but didn’t break and hit the ground with a thud that nearly made the room shake.

Pidge’s brows furrowed, wondering why it had suddenly sounded like a heavy body had hit the ground.

“Ow…” There was a groan from the foot of her bed, exactly where the lamp had landed and for a second, Pidge wondered if she’d fallen asleep or something because there was no way a damn lamp would be talking right now. “Jesus. Why are you being so damn rough?”

The source of the male voice rose up to its feet slowly, and Pidge found herself looking at a tall, wispy, glittery mass of blue energy. Although, it was in the form of a wiry man, it had no real face or true physical features that could help her distinguish its true appearance. But even so, she could just make out glittering, hollowed eyes staring at her on what would be the head and a large, infectious grin. The figure was just vague enough that she couldn’t fully see its features, but not so vague that she couldn’t understand that this was a slightly luminescent, humanoid wisp. It had brought with it the scent of ocean water. On both of its “wrists” were these tight gold cuff bracelets, gleaming brightly and beautifully. All in all, if she had to ascribe it to something, she would call it a celestial-looking being.

“Okay… I clearly fell asleep…” Pidge muttered.

“No, I’m very real. Keith does the whole invading dreams thing. Well, unless you want me to invade yours.” The thing winked at her and Pidge blinked slowly, wondering if she had imagined it or if it had legitimately done so. “Thank you for summoning— _Damn bitch_ , you live like this?!”

It was looking around in horror at the mess in her room. It didn’t have a distinct expression on its face, but she could easily recognise the judge-y look as it perused the pig sty that her room had become. Pidge knew what her room looked like: empty take-out cartons littering every surface, dirty, stained clothes in piles on the floor, a full trash can she hadn’t bothered to take out in weeks with what she was sure were little gnats circling the things inside. It wasn’t her fault she spent so much time at work she didn’t particularly have time to go through her apartment and get it up to par. She had too much to do and not enough time to do it.

“Shut up. Who the hell are you? And where the hell did you come from?” Pidge growled with an embarrassed blush, annoyed with this whole situation. She should have just opened the package the next day. Now she had to deal with this headache, which she was sure was some sleep induced bullshit hallucination. The combination of lack of sleep, plus all the red bulls, plus the coffee had to have caused some sort of crazy imbalance in her brain that led to whatever was currently happening to her.

“Me? I’m Lance of the Pokémon G-Men!” he proclaimed, the weird wispy figure striking some strange heroic pose with his arms.

She stared at Lance with narrowed eyes, unimpressed. When she didn’t respond, he folded his arms across his chest and chuckled to himself. The cuffs clinked as he assumed the position, and her eyes were drawn to the odd tally mark scratches that seemed to adorn the jewellery.

“Jeez, tough crowd.” He moved away from his post to stand by the window and vaguely, she recognised that he had no feet and was floating along. What would have been his legs was a trail tapering off that was still connected to the spout of the lamp. “My name is Lance. Lance McClain. I’m a djinn, or what you might call a genie. Yes, a genie like Aladdin’s grant wishes kind. No, I’m not blue because all djinn are naturally blue. We take on the colour of something most significant to us. I can also take on any form I wish. Yes, I do have a more tangible form, but without a contract, I can’t assume it that easily because I don’t have a tether to the human world. So I’m here to make a contract with you. Did I miss anything?”

So they were really doing this, huh? Since when had her dreams become so much more corporeal than normal?

“So how does this work,” Pidge intoned dryly with a yawn, giving up and humouring him. She was sure she was hallucinating or something else crazy as shit—when had she taken that caffeine pill again—but Pidge was too exhausted, and she didn’t feel like trying to argue against him at the moment. Maybe if she just joined in on the farce, it’d get over faster and she could get some much needed rest. “I get three wishes or something?”

“You actually get five wishes. And don’t even think about wishing for an unlimited amount of wishes. The Council of Elders voted three thousand years ago and decided that they’d had enough of that loophole in the system since we were losing djinn. So that no longer works,” Lance explained, wandering over to the corkboard next to her closet and staring at all the memories and photos and notes she’d tacked up on there. Pidge stared at him with a frown. She wanted him gone. Why the hell would she want more wishes if that meant him sticking around longer? “The only other things you cannot wish for are for someone to fall in love with you, for someone to die—I can't be used like a Death Note—and I _can_ bring someone back from the dead, but I don't want to and the way they come back may not be the way you remember them, so be cautious of that. All variations of those same wishes also cannot apply. And of course, be careful what you wish for.”

There was something about his expression that seemed a little too crafty or sneaky. There was definitely a smirk on his face. Pidge may have been tired, but she was clever enough to understand his implication. She had a feeling that if she didn’t explicitly and thoroughly describe a wish, he’d interpret it his way and the outcome might not be what she’d expected.

Pidge snorted, raising a brow in challenge. Amateur. She was so on to him. “Alright then, ya creep, wish number one. I wish you would stop talking to me for good, go back into your lamp, and leave me alone forever.”

He sucked in air through his teeth, faux sympathetic. “Ooh, nope. Can’t do that. I can’t grant wishes without a contract. And see those markings?”

Lance snapped a finger and the lamp suddenly landed on her lap, his trail of fuzzies just barely brushing against her legs and she inhaled sharply, weirded out by the chill that passed through her body. The weird symbols she’d stroked were still alight, only pulsing now, as if waiting for something.

“You summoned me with the incantation; you’re stuck with me. That’s the way it works.”

“I didn’t say any incantation!” Pidge argued, indignant. “I was scrubbing dirt off of the lamp!”

“Well…” Lance shrugged as he shifted so he was seated at the end of her bed. Somehow, it looked like he was sitting criss-cross, despite the fact that he didn’t really have legs. “Those symbols are ancient and no one can read them without proper knowledge, so they bend the rules a bit. Anything kinda goes. You rubbing it activated it.”

Pidge groaned in frustration, yanking her glasses off and setting them on her nightstand. “Then what the fuck would it take for you to disappear? I’m sick of this crazy hallucination.”

He laughed, and it sounded like there were tinkling bells in his voice. “You’re a weird one. Most people would kill for an opportunity like this.”

“…I’d kill for you to get the hell out of my face. I’m tired. I want to sleep,” she grumped, rubbing her eyes with her sleeve.

“Alright.” His smile widened and with a frilly wave of his hand, he whooshed up a scrolled up parchment paper and a quill pen with a spindle on the butt of the pen.

The arm tendril extended and he handed her both the items. Pidge stared down at it with slumped shoulders of surrender. Why was this still continuing? When the scroll unravelled, it trailed off the side of her bed, bumping on her carpet until it hit a leg of her desk and even then, still hadn’t unravelled fully. And on top of all that, it was in Latin and the lettering was so miniscule, she would need a magnifying glass just to read it. She knew how to read Latin, courtesy of high school years ago, but the time it would take to do proper translations was too much. She needed to go to bed and get this shit over with now.

“You got a more user friendly version?” she asked wearily, rolling up the scroll again and deciding it wasn’t worth the trouble. “And what is this exactly?”

“Sorry, _pollita_ , this is the only version. Also this is my contract. You sign it with your blood, I get a tether to the human world, and once you finish up the five wishes, I’ll be out of your hair forever.”

“Just like that?” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “People don’t get good fortune so easily like this, Lance. Life is a bitch. If it’s easy, you’re living wrong.”

Lance’s “brow” rose as he lied down to recline sideways on her bed. “You’re cynical.”

“And you’re uninformed.  So what’s the catch?”

Lance frowned semi-playfully, picking at the fingernails of one hand. “Catch?”

“To this whole I’ll grant your every wish bullshit.” She waved a hand in disinterest, gesturing to him. “There’s always a catch. There’s always terms. There’s always fine print. I just don’t want to translate and read through this long thing so give me the nuts and bolts of it.”

“Smart cookie.” An arm tendril tweaked her nose and she swatted his hand away from her face with a sharp inhale when it felt like a ghost or literal death passed through her or something. “Okay. I can only grant a wish a day, so you’re stuck with me for at least five days. Think carefully about what you want and when you make your wishes. Of course, you don’t have to make a wish five days in a row if you don’t want to, but in my experience, people have been all too excited to make their wishes fast. Oh, but we can’t start until the contract is processed, and it takes about a business day to process it. Sorry.”

“Urgh…” she groaned, rolling her eyes and Lance grinned, amused. “So I have to deal with you for at the very least, six days?”

“If the queues at the agency aren’t too long, yupp,” he said cheerfully, popping his P as he rolled onto his back and looked at his wrist cuffs. “No one will be able to see me except you unless I adopt a human form so remember that everyone will think you’re talking to yourself if I’m in this form. Also, once you sign the contract, I won’t be tied to the lamp, so you won’t have to worry about carrying it around everywhere.”

“And that’s it?”

“Nope. If you need to summon me immediately, all you have to do is say ‘Oh Lance~ You sexy hunk of a man. I need you to come satisfy my every wish~’” he said in a breathy voice, his wispy arms wrapping around his body and slowly gliding up and down in a sexual manner.

Pidge stared at him blankly while he snickered. “Not happening, dumbass.”

“Aww you’re no fun. Fine. Any words of summoning will suffice as long as you say my name after and I’ll pop up wherever you are,” Lance continued on in his same good mood. “And like I said, no killing, no falling in love, and _please_ no necromancy. But there are workarounds, like beating someone to within an inch of their life for example. I don’t like it, but I’ve had wishes like that before. Also, abstract or subjective wishes like ‘I want to be happy’ or ‘I want to know the meaning of life’ won’t work. They have to be explicit. Oh and you have guaranteed confidentiality. I won’t reveal your name to anyone else I form a contract with, but I do like to use other people’s wishes as examples of what people can achieve through me.”

Pidge nodded impatiently. “What else? And can we hurry this up? I need to sleep.”

“Like I said, I will grant you five wishes, but it’s not for free.” Lance sat up and levelled her with a serious look, all pretence of his joking pushed aside. His tone made a shiver run down her back. The background of tinkling bells in his voice had transformed into something rough and harsh. “Ever heard of equivalent exchange?”

“Like from Fullmetal Alchemist?”

“Similar concept, sort of, but yeah. My power at your fingertips comes with a price that you'll pay at the end of the five wishes.”

“So… a depending on what I wish for, the price will be even to that, kind of thing? Let’s say I wish for a million dollars, does that mean I’d lose my job or qualifications to work or something to make up for it?”

Lance hummed, and the tinkling bells returned. “I suppose, yes. If you want to think about it that way, sure. You definitely wouldn’t have a job anymore.”

“Okay. That’s not so bad. I’ll wish for simple stuff.” As long as she didn’t go overboard or make some stupid wish that could end with her getting a worse life, she’d be fine. It’d be quick, she would get rid of Lance and then get on with her life and be none the wiser. “So is that it?”

“Yes it is! All you have to do is cut your thumb on this quill, sign it with your blood at the bottom here,” he snapped his fingers and the scroll shifted so only the bottom signature portion was showing and the rest was rolled up, “and sign your name and the date, and I’ll go bank the contract.”

What the hell, right? This was only a dream and there was no way this was real anyway, so it didn’t matter. Pidge signed her name and the date at the bottom, but when she moved her thumb to cut it on the spindle, Lance’s weird arm tendril stilled her hand. This time, she couldn’t suppress the shiver as her body recoiled from the touch. It felt like he was going through her skin.

“You sure you don’t want to read the contract?” he said earnestly. “This is irreversible. I’m totally willing to wait for as long as you need to analyse the content. And there’s no rush. As long as no one else does the incantation before you sign off with your blood, I won’t be traipsing off anywhere else.”

So there was a way to make him go away. But then again, Pidge wouldn’t want to force this crap on anyone else. She could deal with the burden.

“Well did you tell me every catch and what I get from this deal?”

“Yeah, I did. The gist of it anyway,” he said honestly, and she detected no attempts at deceit from him.

“Okay, Lance. I trust you then.” She’d always been a thorough person, but at this point, she was exhausted and desperately needed to sleep. Her body felt like it was shutting down on herself. And the sooner she got this over with, the better. She didn’t know Lance at all, but he didn’t seem to be the type to be some asshole. Maybe a little goofy, but she hadn’t gotten any threatening vibes from him. Plus, he was friendly and his concern about the contract seemed sincere enough. “Wanna let go of my hand now?”

Lance was oddly quiet for a second, a weird look on his wispy face, but then he finally released her hand to let her continue. Pidge grit her teeth and sliced her thumb across the point, inhaling sharply as it dug into her skin and drew blood. As she pressed the thumb to the designated spot beside her signature, Lance waited with baited breath, his expression intense as he watched the proceedings. Once Pidge was sure she’d gotten a good enough amount of blood on it, she lifted her head and raised a brow at Lance.

“We done here, Lance?”

“Yeah.” Lance took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and she got the distinct impression that he was a little emotional for some reason. “Alright. That’s it.”

Then with a snap of his fingers, both the parchment and the quill pen disappeared from sight. To her surprise, he conjured up a bandage too and held it out to her, somewhat sheepishly.

“Here.”

“Thanks.” She blinked, but took it and unwrapped it to wrap around her bleeding thumb. There were multi-coloured lions all over it. “So, is this really all it takes? No magic pixie dust sprinkled on me?”

Lance laughed. “No. I’m not Tinkerbell.”

“You’re a twig like her. Well, except she has an ass.”

“A twig?! No ass?!” he said, affronted. “I’ll have you know that my human form is very beautifully crafted! I am a specimen worthy of the Louvre!”

She rolled her eyes. “Just go turn that damn contract in and let me sleep. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get back to the life I want.”

“Likewise…” The hollowed pools that served as his eyes took on a strange little look in them. Something about his grin had warped, but she couldn’t place it and she was too fatigued to try to figure it out anyway. “It’s been good doing business with you, Katie Holt. I’ll see you next when the contact goes through.”

And with a puff of vibrant blue smoke full of glitter and sparkles, he disappeared into the lamp, leaving behind him the strong, salty scent of the ocean and an unfortunate mess of blue glitter all over her bed and bedroom floor.

“Goddammit!” She growled, lifting her arms as the sprinkles tumbled off and landed on the bed. It would take forever to get this out.

When he came back, her first wish would be to make him clean that up. Well, provided this was even real in the first place. She was sure this whole thing was just a dream anyway and that she was so tired she’d made up the whole thing in her head. Pidge was positive when she woke up the next day, she would have forgotten all about it.

With that, Pidge tossed the lamp carelessly over the side of her bed, settled into her covers and gladly let sleep claim her.

 

* * *

 

 Lance hummed quietly to himself, tapping his foot along to the beat of his little song as he watched a city go by in the horizon outside the window of the train he was on. It was dark and only the lights of the buildings illuminated the night, but he personally thought it was beautiful the way the lights reflected off of the blood red water of the lake they were traversing. The red moons, he could do without. They were creepy. But still, it was a beautiful sight despite the neverending night in this place, and he knew everything looked that much shinier because of the nice little contract he’d managed to snag himself.

His heart beat faster in excitement, just thinking about it and he found himself grinning even more widely.

“We are now approaching City Centre Station. Please gather your belongings and prepare to dismount.” An automated voice on the train announced. “We are now approaching City Centre Station. Please gather your belongings and prepare to dismount.”

As the train began to slow to a stop at the station, Lance stood with a stretch, cracking his joints and grabbing his messenger bag. There weren’t that many other creatures of the night on the train, although there was one other djinn sitting toward the back of the car who looked defeated and disappointed. Lance gave him a sympathetic smile as he walked off. It was hard making contracts as a djinn. They were confined to their objects and had to rely on someone somehow finding them or taking them and on top of all that saying the incantation.

Getting people to agree to the wishes wasn’t hard, but the part before that was the difficult one. Lance was lucky that the oil lamp he’d been tied to was majestic and fancy and something humans would find interesting, even if they weren’t collectors or something.

Lance left the station, smiling politely at other late night individuals taking the train from city centre back to the world of the living, the ghoul trudging past, a phantom who was checking a map, a female spirit who eyed him with interest. Under normal circumstances, he’d definitely stop for a chat, maybe flirt a bit and see where the night might take them (hopefully in her bed), but he had more pressing matters to attend to and no time to waste.

He walked briskly, avoiding running into anyone as he headed towards the town square, a place that was always bustling with activity no matter what time of day.

(Well, technically night since the sun never shone).

He headed straight for the huge golden building with the clock tower at the middle of town square, striding through the doors with purpose. He made quick work of getting to the elevators and his smile widened further the more he approached the top floor. When he reached it, the lift stopped, but the doors didn’t open.

“State your name and business,” a bored male drawled in a voice reminiscent to an English accent.

“Hey Lotor. What’s happening?” Lance called out to the intercom.

Lotor growled at him. “Lance, you’re a few days late. You missed our appointment.”

“I know, I know. I had a little trouble because my target didn’t come home for a few days.”

Still, he considered it a blessing that he’d ended up catching the eye of Katie’s apparent brother in the first place. Lance would have been fine with snagging either of those two travellers, but it was even better that the dude had sent this to his sister. Isolated people were much easier to deal with.

Katie had been easy to deal with too, but in a way completely outside the norm for him that he didn’t understand.

It was strange to him considering most people once they heard that he could grant their every wish tended to immediately jump on board without wanting to even hear the terms. She jumped on board because she wanted him to leave her alone. She seemed a pretty clever woman, especially since she’d actually taken care to ask what the whole deal would entail. Well, up until she’d decided against reading the contract, anyway. But he didn’t blame her considering how convoluted the thing was. Either way, he really hadn’t lied to her about what it entailed.

Just worded it in very specific ways.

He thought it weird that she trusted his words like that. That she trusted him, someone who she didn’t even know. Sure, it wasn’t like he had some grotesque form and his voice was alright, but at the end of the day, he was still a demon, wish granting or not.

And she’d signed a contract with him.

He ignored the slight feeling of guilt in the back of his mind that had cropped up the moment Katie had said those words about trusting him.

The lift doors opened and Lance walked out into the swanky office of his boss’s son. He was entering some data into his laptop, looking completely fed up and very tired. Lance could never quite figure out what kind of creature Lotor was. At the very least, he was half-sorcerer, but the fact that he could enter Nevermore meant that his father had to be a creature of the night. He had vampiric qualities to him, but Lance would never ask. Rumour had it that he’d been an active field agent centuries ago until he fell in love with some princess that was his target, and ever since then, he’d been relegated to mundane desk work in the bowels of the town square. Rumour also had it that the last person who asked him a personal question about that had their head ripped clean off their neck and placed on a pike in the middle of the town as an example.

“I have the contract,” Lance waved the folded scroll up as he walked to Lotor’s desk.

“Hmm? Then this is your hundredth soul, Lance.” The man had a barely there smile on his face, and Lance knew that was the most he would be getting. Lotor opened it up to view the signature, and satisfied, took a stamp and notarised the bottom to signify his approval. “Congratulations.”

“I know,” Lance declared cheerfully and near bouncing on his toes. “And she can’t _wait_ to get rid of me, so in five days or so, I’m going to be free.”

“This is a very strong soul. Practically untainted. Haggar will be most pleased with the addition to her collection. Good work, Lance. These five years of collecting souls have been very productive for you.”

He sobered up a bit, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably at the mention of who he was doing this for. “Yeah well… I have a family to get back home to. I’m not going to stay here forever.”

Lotor nodded once. “We’ll process the contract and contact you when the bond has been created. Then and only then will you receive that 100th tick.”

Lance stared down at the marked wrist cuffs on his arms. One notch remained. One more tick and he was free. “Thanks.”

Once he’d left the Soul Agency, he forewent getting something to eat at his favourite diner. The special that day was human hearts in a stew and though he had been in Nevermore long enough to grow accustomed to the unusual meals served there, certain things he refused to eat. He drew the line at any human organs or liquids.

He headed to his apartment complex and got there fast enough since he’d transformed his tail into makeshift legs so he could travel more quickly. He didn’t particularly like where he lived, since it was a djinn commune for those stuck under Haggar’s employment. It made him feel like nothing was under his control.

But the apartment itself wasn’t too bad. It was nothing more than a tiny shoebox apartment and he’d furnished it with only a simple mattress and a desk, but it was enough for him. Besides, personalising it less meant that it would be hard to form any attachments to this place, and he was definitely itching to leave, especially now that he was so close. He really didn’t like the way the species saw living humans as nothing more than food or souls to satisfy their neverending hunger.

“I heard you secured your 100th soul. Congratulations.” The cringe-y, hissing voice came from beside him and Lance turned to his next door neighbour with a strained smile. The dark mass of wispiness had a huge grin on its face that made Lance fight not to take a step back. The man made him uncomfortable with his beady eyes and serpentine-like qualities and an obvious penchant for malice that rolled off of his body in waves.

“Thanks.” News travelled fast, huh?

“You’ve really been busting your ass to get out, huh? I’m in no rush. I would prefer to savour how delicious the souls are.”

“Right…” Lance chuckled half-heartedly, turning away to end the conversation. “Well, enjoy your night.”

He got in his apartment and made sure to lock the door after, leaning against the doorway with a slow exhale.

Lance wanted to be out before he became like this guy. Blood thirsty and ugly hearted and becoming just as grotesque as a creature of the night would look. He knew some men and women who had been stuck for several hundreds of years from debts they could not pay quickly who were absolute abominations he would not wish on even his worst enemies. And he’d also seen people in five years of getting confined to this place at the same time as him turn into the very monsters they’d once feared.

Lance could feel the change in himself too.

Once upon a time, he couldn’t fathom exchanging someone’s soul for giving them five wishes. But he’d seen the greed and gluttony and disgusting envy in their hearts and by his thirtieth, he’d readily begun to trick them, making the deal seem sweet without properly disclosing the payment for the brief bout of unlimited power. The dark thoughts and easy way he could justify sending people to their untimely prison in a literal hell was something that kind of scared him. When had he become so quick to believe his brand of justice was totally justified? So the sooner he left, the better, because he was quickly on his way to becoming someone completely unrecognisable from the Lance he’d once been.

He felt kind of bad about Katie. Her soul would end up imprisoned for eternity after this whole ordeal was done. She seemed like a nice enough woman, if not snarky—and definitely _very_ cute, which was a definite plus if he’d have to spend time with her—but she’d still signed the contract. He wasn’t completely sure if she truly wanted her wishes granted or not and her attitude had been hard to decipher, but even other reluctant people who’d signed in the past eventually became power hungry once they realised exactly what he could do.

So to a certain extent, Katie was probably just as greedy as the ninety-nine other ugly people he’d had to serve in his time under Haggar’s authority, right? Sacrificing Katie was a means to an end. An end in which he finally got to go home.

And that was a price he was willing to pay.


	2. Chapter 2

_“You should be all set to start your work, Lance. The next time I see you, we’ll be removing those cuffs.”_

Lance leaned back in his gold-encrusted seat on the train, absentmindedly rubbing at his weathered cuff where the 100th notch had finally been added by Lotor. It took about two days to process his contract, but it was no matter. Five days with Katie was all he expected, so soon enough he would be on the first plane he could take back to Cuba.

Back to his family.

Lance wondered if Nadia was just about finishing up her last year in primary school. She’d be starting junior high soon. His heart clenched in his chest at the thought and he stared down at his lap dejectedly. He’d missed so much of her life. Sylvio’s too. His nephew was probably going to start high school soon and Lance hadn’t even been around to give him advice about girls and puberty and dances (and how to dance with girls during those raging hormonal puberty times) and teach him how to be the perfect McClain flirt. He missed his mum and pop and crazy life with his siblings.

…were abuelo and abuelita still alive and well?

Lance shook his head, slapping his cheeks twice to get himself out of his funk. He startled a trickster pixie awake that had been on the verge of dozing off and smiled apologetically. There was no point in thinking about this now and getting all depressed.

What was done was done.

But like he’d told Keith the day before, in no time at all, he’d be back in the world of the living for good and he would no longer have to live out this nightmare. Keith had been leaving for a longterm assignment with a war veteran that had recurring nightmares from his time as a prisoner of war, so they’d said their goodbyes then because by the time Lance was free, Keith probably wouldn’t be back. All things considered, he hated Nevermore, but he was going to somewhat miss Keith. The incubus was pretty cool—even though his purple eyes _freaked_ Lance out—and he’d been the one to help Lance find safe places in the underworld where the less bloodthirsty creatures of the night hung out.

When the train finally stopped at the specialised station for djinn to get to their portals, he stepped off, taking a deep breath and feeling the excitement rise up in him anew. By the time he’d crossed the portal that would take him to his lamp he was already dreaming up the mountains of garlic knots he would enjoy from finally being free. He could just imagine the party his mother would throw for his return. She’d probably invite the whole neighbourhood and knowing the people he grew up with, the partying would last at least a week. But the hardest part would be explaining to them why he’d disappeared off the face of the earth in the first place. Maybe he’d just tell them he got lost in the wilderness or something.

“Just five more days, Lance…”

Once he’d crossed the threshold to the world of the living he poofed out of his lamp, yawning from the trip, and looked around. He was in Katie’s darkened bedroom, standing beside her dresser and when he glanced at the bed, a large lump was tangled in the covers, spread eagle and basically covering every conceivable inch of the mattress. She was snoring pretty loudly and the foot sticking out of the bundle of blanket was twitching every handful of seconds. There was blue glitter all over her fluffy hair and blanket and even on the ground and he had no idea why she’d been playing with it in the first place, but he wasn’t about to wake her right now when it looked like she was pretty deep in the throes of the Land of Dreams.

(He’d gone there once; it was a really nice place until you got outside the perimeter).

Quietly, Lance tiptoed out of the room so he didn’t disturb her and headed down the hallway to a much larger room past the front door. He was even more disgusted to find that her living room looked even worse and more disastrous than her bedroom, if that was even possible. From the clutter and metal parts from some dissected robot to the clothes everywhere to random objects and artefacts it seemed she collected, it was a giant mess.

This woman lived in a pigsty and it bothered him because he’d always been something of a neat freak himself. Katie seemed to have a complete lack of care for her well-being. Disregarding making a deal with a demon—a whole other category altogether—Exhibit A: the rusty nail in the middle of the carpet in front of her kitchen just begging for a trip to the ER for a tetanus shot. And he wasn’t even going to touch on the kitchen, where he was absolutely certain black mould had made its nest.

It was _disgusting_.

She was a pack rat and lived like a bachelor, or someone who just didn’t know how to take care of themselves and somehow it was both surprising and not surprising at all.

Sighing, Lance transformed, shedding his djinn form and adopting his actual appearance. His limbs felt awkward from disuse for such a long period of time and he stretched them out, groaning in bliss as joints cracked and popped and loosened up. It felt good to have his full range of motion again, and he wasn’t planning on going back into the lamp if he could avoid it. But if he was going to be staying at Katie’s place for the time being, there was no way he could tolerate this kind of lifestyle.

He wasn’t the type to help others if he didn’t need to anymore, but Lance rolled up his sleeves and got to work cleaning up the mess in the living room. He reorganised the robot parts and relegated them to one corner, picked up all the stray nuts and bolts and parts and set them in a bag for easier finding, and then used his powers to whisk up the rest of the beat up, bent up, burnt parts that she’d discarded but left in various inconvenient locations. In the trash they went. Next up was the dirty clothes, the random papers and objects in her living room, and the ample trash, which was more tedious, but he definitely took it as an opportunity to snoop and see what kind of person he was dealing with.

He was curious. He wanted to get a better sense of her personality because she’d really confused him the first time they’d met.

Someone had been slipping her mail under her door. He assumed it was because she had not collected it. And the one at the bottom at the pile was dated from roughly two days ago, so either she hadn’t been home for two days or she hadn’t left her apartment for two days. Either way, he was definitely adding ‘indifference towards important things’ to his list because there was a notice for an unpaid cell phone bill in the pile of mail.

It was strange looking into her life as he worked. Yes, she seemed like she didn’t give a rat’s ass about anything except her own interests, but it kind of intrigued him. She had a block TV from probably the nineties that had gathered so much dust the layers of dust had layers of dust. Her furniture was secondhand—probably from a thrift store—and very mismatched, but comfortable and worn and for a brief moment, Lance was reminded of his father’s favourite puke green lounging chair, where he would fall asleep after dinner with his usual beer in his hand. When they were younger, he and Marco would take turns trying to draw on his face to see who could make the most elaborate picture before he woke up.

A well of emotion squeezed in his chest briefly and Lance shook the thought out of his mind and continued his work.

Katie’s apartment was small, so it didn’t take long to get the living room in order. For the most part, she seemed to live off of necessity. She wasn’t high maintenance and didn’t own a lot of expensive things. The only exception was her elaborate gaming station in the corner with the fancy leather chair and the multiple computer screens and gigantic processor and the thousand dollar headphones and shelves full of games.

(It was also the only part of the room that looked shiny and brand new and above all that, was _immaculate and spotless_ ).

It was a little surprising that she was a gamer, but then again, she didn’t seem particularly feminine despite the pixie haircut and large comical glasses that made her look pretty cute. He liked that she had a lot of older games too, vintage games he’d played with his Luis and sometimes Veronica when he was a kid. Most people he’d known were into the fancy new ones with amazing graphics and elaborate story lines, and it was rare to find someone as young as Katie into the clunky, classic stuff like Killbot Phantasm and the numerous sequels.

(Well, he assumed she was his age, maybe younger).

When he’d gone through her entire game catalogue, he got to work on the kitchen, nearly gagging at some of the most disgusting sights and smells he’d ever seen in a sink. Gooey stuff, crusty stuff, fuzzy stuff, all in varying colours of greens and browns with some milky or yellow-y and all smelling like death. (Although, even the grim reaper Death smelled better than this). He spent the whole time reminding himself of the five days like it was a mantra.

By the time he’d finished up all his cleaning and brought the kitchen back to an acceptable state, a couple hours had passed. His stomach grumbled, and Lance figured it wouldn’t hurt to make some breakfast for them both. She still had yet to wake up in the time he’d been cleaning, but surprising her with food was his brand of a small thank you, because technically if it wasn’t for her, he wouldn’t be on the verge of getting back home to his real life.

She didn’t have many fresh ingredients in her fridge but ample takeout containers—he added ‘can’t cook’ to his list of Katie Quirks—and Lance had a feeling someone else had put the food in there, but there were just enough ingredients to make a cheesy omelette with the works. And at least none of the contents were horribly expired, although there was a tub of Tupperware in the far back that had some questionable black spots on the side of the plastic. He left it alone.

When he shut the door, his gaze was drawn to the few photos she’d tacked up on her fridge. A photo of who he assumed was her mom and dad slow dancing in a homely living room. Hugging a slightly identical looking guy on her graduation day. Katie playing with a dopey looking, happy dog. She didn’t seem the sentimental type, so the photos were unexpected.

Lance turned away and got to work making the food. He wasn’t really sure why he was going through such lengths for this random chick who was really just another notch in his wristcuff, but he knew a part of him did feel a semblance of guilt. She looked pretty close to her family.

“Five days, Lance…” he muttered to himself.  He was close to his family too. And he’d lost five years with them. “You’re justified. And she’s a greedy human.”

It was as he was sprinkling the shredded cheese on the second omelette and folding it in half on the plate that shuffling footsteps entered the kitchen.

“Mom…?” Lance looked over his shoulder at the voice. Katie was trudging in in a t-shirt and some lounging shorts and drying her hair with the towel on her head. “I thought I told you you don’t have to come over and check up on… me…”

Lance offered her a small salute and a smile. “Uh, no… It’s just me. Lance.”

Her blank, nonchalant expression was entirely deceptive, because in the next second, Katie _screamed_ bloody murder and started grabbing the fake fruit in the bowl on the counter and hurling it at him.

(With pretty deadly, spot-on aim!)

“Who _the fuck_ are you?! And how did you get in my apartment?!” she shouted, throwing a fake pineapple. “If you even dare try to crazy murder me I’m going to rip your balls off!”

“Ow! Stop throwing things at me!” Lance ducked under his arm, trying to deflect getting pelted in the head by the spikes. “I told you I’m Lance!”

Katie wasn’t buying it. “I don’t know any Lances! Why are you eating my food, you weirdo?! Get out!”

“Would you calm down?!” Aggravated, Lance snapped his fingers and poofed right back to his blue djinn form, mostly because he could make himself translucent and her attacks were going through his body instead of bouncing off his head. “I’m the djinn from the lamp! Lance McClain? We talked two days ago. You signed my contract.”

 _Now_ she stopped. Katie looked completely flabbergasted. Her jaw was kind of hanging open in disbelief and the expression on her face made him wonder if she thought she herself was crazy.

“Am I still dreaming…?” she murmured to herself, squeezing her eyes shut and rubbing at them earnestly. “That’s the last time I mix a caffeine pill, red bull, and espresso…”

“That is so unbelievably unhealthy. Not to mention disgusting as all hell.” Lance wrinkled his nose as he let himself slide back to his normal appearance. He’d been right that she was not the kind of person to take care of herself. “When was the last time you ate a proper meal?”

Her amber eyes popped open, the disappointment in her gaze that she hadn’t been dreaming palpable. She walked up to him slowly. When she stopped in front of him, she reached up cautiously and jabbed a finger into his cheek. Lance stared down at her with a raised brow, partly in amusement.

“I told you I was very real.”

“It’s been two days since that dream.” Katie slapped both hands on either side of his face, squishing his cheeks together as if to see if he was truly tangible, and Lance rolled his eyes. This was the first time he’d ever had to deal with someone acting so confused about him. What part was she not getting? He’d explained everything to her already and she’d gotten it then but now she was acting as if she didn’t understand at all. “What is going on?”

“It wasn’t a dream. I’m a djinn, Katie.” Lance sighed, swatting her hand away from his face and crossing his arms in front of his chest. Her eyes snapped to his in surprise when she heard her name. “You get five wishes. You signed a contract with me which went through by the way. That’s why I came back. To let you know. We’re not doing this whole thing again so wake up.”

“But how did—”

She was interrupted by the tumultuous growl of her stomach. They both stared at each other, blinking, and when the scent of the food travelled through the air and hit them again, her stomach gurgled desperately. Katie’s face twisted in displeasure, but he didn’t miss the almost pining way with which she turned her gaze briefly to the food sitting innocuously on the plate.

“How about…” Lance started, smiling in a way he knew was suave and charming, “we have some breakfast? And then you can deal with whatever issues you seem to be having later.”

She looked like she was seriously considering kneeing him in the groin and Lance had his hands partially ready to shield because he wouldn’t be able to de-transform fast enough if she did and djinn or not, he still had working male parts that could definitely feel pain. But Katie sighed instead, slumping into herself as if she gave up and was too exhausted to even try to make sense of anything anymore. She rubbed her forehead as if she was dealing with a burgeoning headache.

“If there are any mushrooms in there, I’m kicking your ass.”

Lance couldn’t help his smirk. Annoying her was going to be so fun. “Well. Aren’t you a feisty one?”

She glowered at him as she snatched a plate and headed to the kitchen island to start eating.

 

* * *

 

Matt had shown Pidge some pretty crazy things in the past. He’d travelled to a lot of places and sent her a lot of pictures, so she’d seen some wild stuff, but absolutely _nothing_ could overtake waking up from a well-deserved two day nap and walking through a partially cleaned apartment to find some random hot Hispanic guy making breakfast in her kitchen.

Honestly, she’d thought maybe she’d woken up in a pocket dimension because there was _no_ way she would end up with a boyfriend that attractive… much less a boyfriend in the first place. But that had lasted all of two seconds before reality had crashed into her and woken her up from her temporary stupor.

She’d heard and read horror stories in the news about people who encountered monsters and of course there were always those unexplained disappearances and mysterious hauntings that people attributed to the “creatures of the night”. She herself had never particularly believed magic or magical monsters were a thing. But to encounter an actual genie was something she was struggling to grasp her head around. Hell, she still partially thought Lance was a crazy person who’d broken into her place somehow, but he’d changed into his celestial wispy form, and _that_ was something that couldn’t be explained away.

(Well, unless she’d gotten into an accident on her way home a couple days ago and was really in a coma right now dreaming).

But now that she’d gotten some nourishment in her, and she’d had a chance to parse through her thoughts, she had stopped freaking out so much. She needed to go about this calmly, levelheaded and figure out a solution to the current problem sitting across from her with a borderline smirk.

“Stop grinning at me like a dork.” Pidge snapped, talking around a mouthful of her—admittedly fantastic—omelette. “You’re creeping me out.”

Lance hummed in interest, tilting his head a bit from where he was resting his chin on the palm of his hand and watching her eat. “I’m just curious.”

She sighed. “About what?”

“About how someone can forget they’d signed a blood contract with a djinn to get five wishes.” Lance looked bemused and sounded fairly jovial, but in _this_ form it was much easier for Pidge to see the undercurrent of something dark burgeoning in his blue eyed gaze. “Are you normally this absentminded?”

(There was _almost_ something sinister about him, as if it was brimming under his skin).

It made her a little suspicious, but he still hadn’t given her any indication that he was someone she shouldn’t be anywhere near. He didn’t seem _evil_ , necessarily.

“No. This is sleep deprivation, low blood sugar, hormonal imbalances, dehydration diminishing brain capability, my anaemia, a lack of belief in the mystique. Need I go on?” Pidge snarked, finishing off the omelette and then draining the rest of her glass of orange juice. She let out a hearty burp and leaned back in her kitchen island stool just enough that she could appear a little intimidating as she glared at Lance on the other side. He looked unperturbed, although a little impatient.

“How can you not believe in the supernatural when crazy, unexplainable shit probably happens around you every day?” Lance questioned. “There are monsters everywhere out in this world. Ones you probably don’t even notice because they’ve assimilated themselves so well with humans. Your closest friends could be monsters and you wouldn’t know.”

Pidge shrugged. “I’m a woman of science. So my general thought process is that everything can be explained by science.”

“Not everything.” His expression turned sombre and he rubbed at the golden bracelets on his wrist. Although now that she looked at them more closely, they kind of resembled shackles. “Anyway, like I said. Contract successful. So make your first wish already. Weren’t you in a hurry to get rid of me?”

“I still am. But part of me is considering turning you in to one of those crazy monster research societies for studying instead,” Pidge responded, half joking and raising a brow when he gave her an unamused look. “Because one, I still kind of don’t believe you. You might really be some freak. And two: if we have a contract, then you’re stuck with me and I can do whatever I want with you, right?”

This time, she _definitely_ saw the flash of something malicious and furious crawl into his gaze before it disappeared, but a chill went down her back and she wondered which part of her statement had ticked him off so much to begin with.

Lance straightened up and his answering smile had an almost villainous edge that hadn’t been there before. “Of course. That _is_ what it says in our contract. I grant any wish of your bidding. No matter what.”

Pidge stared at him for a few seconds before she shook her head and rose from her stool. She grabbed the plates and tossed them in the sink and then walked around the island to face Lance. He looked a little wary of her, but otherwise didn’t move when she scrutinised him.

Lance really was a weird one. He seemed chill, but there was something _just off_ about him that made her wonder what he was hiding. Something she kind of picked up on the day they’d first met, but at the time she hadn’t paid much attention to because she’d desperately needed sleep. She kind of wanted to know, but entertaining his existence seriously was as good as relinquishing her devotion to science and giving into this farce that magic and monsters were real. This whole situation was already weird as hell, but she honestly still thought maybe she was hallucinating.

“So you really mean _any_ wish? Anything I want at all?” Pidge asked.

“Absolutely! You say the word, and I’ll get it done. One hundred percent customer satisfaction guaranteed!” He smirked then, as if laughing about a private joke to which only he knew the punchline. “So what’ll it be? Student loans paid off? That’s always a favourite. Trying something you’ve never done before? A prominent leadership position in your workplace? Someone you want to get even with? Anyone you want’s life destroyed?”

“If this is real,” Pidge narrowed her eyes at him, “my first wish is for you to clean up and get rid of all the fucking blue glitter your celestial form left in my apartment when you poofed away! And I mean _all_ of it, everywhere. In my carpet, my pillow, my sheets, blanket, on my pyjamas and clothes. And _especially_ the glitter stuck in my hair!”

Lance’s brows drew down in confusion as his gaze went to her hair and she saw sudden recognition in his eyes. “Oh! You’re talking about the remnants of my aura.”

“What the hell is an aura?”

“Everyone has one. Humans’ are invisible; we supernatural creatures leave a trail, which is usually how we spot the difference between one of us and a tasty human snack,” he explained, waving off her question with a hand. “Wait, you left that there for two days?”

“Who has time to clean? And since you made the mess anyway, this shouldn’t really affect the whole equivalent exchange thing, right?”

The bewilderment on his face didn’t leave. “That’s… what you’re… wasting your first wish on? You could literally have me do anything… and you want me to clean up some glitter?”

“It gets in everything!” Pidge said indignantly, ruffling her hair to show him just how deeply engrained this glitter was in her hair.  “Do you know how impossible it is to get glitter out of your hair? Out of anything?! It sticks to every damn surface! The minute you touch it, it’s on you for life. I couldn’t even get it out of my hair with shampoo or water. Who was the fucknut who thought it was a good idea to invent _glitter_?”

Lance snorted though he still didn’t look convinced. “You are one odd bird, Katie. But so you wished it, so shall it be done.”

He snapped his fingers and the slightest she felt was a bit of tingling on her head. When the tingling stopped, nothing else happened, but Lance looked pretty proud of himself. She gave him a suspicious look and he gestured towards her bedroom as if to say ‘go see for yourself’. Pidge walked quickly to her room and sure enough, the blue glitter that had invaded her living domain was gone. Even when she checked her dresser’s mirror and moved her hair around, there wasn’t a single bit of blue catching the light.

It really was gone. She wanted to cry tears of happiness. The glitter nightmare was over!

“Still believe I’m not real? That magic isn’t real?” Lance asked, leaning against her doorway with a brow raised and arms crossed. “You said it yourself. Glitter is impossible to remove. I’ve done the impossible, no?”

Pidge was holding her breath slightly. “Okay, this is crazy…”

There were no explanations for what had happened. Sure, she could argue he hadn’t been in the room so there was no correlation between him snapping his fingers and the glitter disappearing, but then how did the glitter go away?

Lance shrugged, giving her a small smile, and she realised she’d been thinking out loud. “It’s not that crazy if you just let yourself believe that the supernatural exists.”

“Who are you?” Pidge asked, turning to look at him. _Really_ look at him. “You look human, but you call yourself a genie. You claim that you can do anything, but you seem like a dopey adult to me. You look around my age but I bet you’re like seven thousand years old which begs the question of how are you a genie.”

“I’m no one important.” Lance shrugged off her questions with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He looked uncomfortable under her scrutiny. “Just a wish granter. Speaking of which, you used your wish of the day pretty early on and I’ve still got a whole day free, so what’s the plan?”

“What do you mean, what’s the plan?”

“I mean I’m going to be bored since you didn’t really leave me with much of a challenge, so entertain me, woman.”

This was news to Pidge. “Don’t you just go back to your lamp when you’re done with your wish for the day?”

“Why would I do that? The lamp isn’t my home; it’s like a waiting station between here and the underworld.” Lance plopped down on her bed, lying back with his arms behind his head in a picture of nonchalance and ease. “The travel takes a while so I prefer not to return to my apartment unless absolutely necessary.”

“So… where exactly do you _go_ in the downtime between wishes?”

Lance looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, where do you live while you’re contracted? Like where are you staying?” she gestured around randomly, but she couldn’t deny her sudden apprehension.

“Here, of course.”

Pidge had to blink a couple times to make sure she’d heard him right. “ _Wait, what_?! No the hell you’re not!”

He had a shit-eating grin on his face. “I’m looking forward to the next few days, _Roomie_.”

"Fucking hell..."

What the heck was her life?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tags have been updated ~~let's see if i can knock out the rest of this story this week~~

“Hey. Wake up,” Pidge said, poking the sleeping Lance on her couch with her toe.

He grunted and mumbled something in Spanish—something rude she was sure—but didn’t get up. Pidge sighed, wondering how comfortable it had to be taking a nap on her ancient couch when it was so small and the cushions had indentations from where the padding had been worn down. Lance had long limbs and he had to squish himself into a ball just to fit on the couch, but from the way his brows were scrunched up, it couldn’t be comfortable at all. She didn’t consider herself open or one of those overly friendly people to strangers like he seemed, but she wasn’t a heartless bitch. Plus, she’d been up for a while so it wasn’t like her bed was being used.

After watching him sleep in discomfort for a while, she’d finally gotten up from fixing Kinkade’s camcorder and decided to offer Lance her bed. She still thought he was annoying as all hell—especially since the scent of the ocean clung to him like a second skin and now her apartment smelled like him—but Lance had gotten rid of the aura glitter somehow so at least for that, he deserved a better rest. And he’d actually made dinner for her the night before which he didn’t have to. And breakfast earlier that day.

(Plus he’d cleaned some of her apartment, a feat even her mother refused to attempt).

Pidge wanted to continue denying that there was some sort of supernatural shit going on, but Lance’s existence definitely challenged her world view.

She’d done her research on supposed genies and could only come up with information that they were demons who granted wishes. The exact same things Lance had disclosed had been roughly what other people around the world mentioned too. All she could find was stuff about colleagues and friends and family of individuals who obtained objects and later suddenly amassed huge riches or got their every desire consecutively acquired. Houses, promotions, huge amounts of money, fame and glory, the list of achievements and gains were extraordinary. Or from people who swore some magical poofing monster had caused them grief somehow. People whose lives were ruined out of nowhere while someone they considered an enemy suddenly rose to the top.

There were definitely a few articles here and there about people beaten horribly who’d woken from comas and described their attacker as terrifying men and women or creatures with golden bracelets on their wrists. No one believed them.

And no one could get confirmation from those who suddenly amassed untold wealth because none of those people were alive anymore.

Or rather, they didn’t exist.

She’d scoured every inch of information she could find that wasn’t covered up, but the stories and tales went on and on about individuals who’d suddenly become extraordinarily lucky only to vanish shortly after. She didn’t know if that really had anything to do with the genies, but maybe that was the effect of the equivalent exchange rule. Some people believed acquiring genies was a curse, but with no one to confirm, there were all just speculation, just like most other stories about the creepy things that would happen at night.

She’d sucked it up and ended up perusing the monster research society website—one of the stupidest organisations ever—but all she could find out was that genies were likely chained to some other creature like pets and made to do their bidding. Which honestly didn’t sound too farfetched.

She glanced down at Lance’s wrists.

If he was anything like Genie in Aladdin, it wouldn’t be such a far off conjecture to assume he was enslaved like his animated counterpart had been. Right? Those gold cuffs really were starting to seem like shackles the more she looked at them. So then would it be such a huge jump to assume that he was forced into this lifestyle? Even though he acted all pleasant like he didn’t mind what he did, she wondered how much of an act it all was.

Lance was _weird_.

And she had a feeling he could be cruel when pushed, so she would have to be careful.

But she couldn’t lie that he did intrigue her. She’d originally wanted to use up her wishes in quick succession to get him out of her life faster, but the scientist in her kind of wanted to know more about this whole genie thing, especially since no one else on the web had been privy to any of that information.

“Hey.” When he didn’t move, she lifted her foot and planted it on his face. “I know you’re awake, moocher.”

She knew her feet were cold, so when Lance opened his eyes and glowered up at her, she couldn’t help but snort at the look of annoyance on his face.

“What do you want? There are better ways to wake up a guy you know…” he muttered, swiping her foot off his face in disgust. “And by better, I mean ways with more sex appeal. Ruined my good dream, dammit.”

“I was going to offer you my bed to take a nap in since you look like your lungs are being squished.”

He blinked at her stupidly for a moment and then shook his head. “Nah, I need to wake up anyway. I’m replenished.”

“Replenished?”

“Using my human form takes a bit to get used to. It’s annoying.”

She filed that information away in her head.

Pidge sat down on her coffee table next to him, arms resting on her knees. “So you’re really a genie, huh?”

“Please tell me you’re not still on that.” Lance gave her an exasperated look as he sat up. “I already granted your first wish and you’re still sceptical?”

“I’m getting there.” She shrugged, looking at his shackles. Lance stretched out his back and even Pidge had to wince when she heard the bones cracking like they were finally readjusting after being so constricted in an uncomfortable position for so long. “I read some stuff and maybe it’s not as farfetched as it seems, but it’s still a weird situation. Like ,what do you do? Do you just sit around in an oil lamp until someone happens to come by you?”

“That’s the gist of it, yeah. They ask for wishes, I grant them, and then it’s back to the underworld.”

She narrowed her eyes. “And you’ve been doing this for all eternity?”

“Look, just ask me what you want to ask me.” Lance scrubbed a hand through his dishevelled hair as he yawned. “I know there’s something you want to know.”

“Your bracelets. Those are shackles, aren’t they? You’re under someone’s service.” Pidge saw something in his gaze for a brief second that confirmed her suspicions, despite the fact that he was covering it up behind his smile. “This isn’t just about granting wishes for me because I summoned you. There’s no way you like this kind of job just because. What do you get out of this contract?”

“What?”

“I mean, you’re basically a demon. I made a pact with you, so you get something out of this, right? What is it?” Pidge pressed, determined to get her answers.

Lance’s lips pursed a bit, and he looked like he was debating responding honestly to her.

“You’re an annoying one,” he finally said crossly after an extended period of silence. “You were granted unlimited power at your fingertips at basically no cost right now and you still would rather ask stupid questions? You can use your next wish, you know? It’s a new day.”

“It’s not stupid! I just want to know why you’re so excited about people making contracts with you. If you’re not gaining anything from it, what could possibly be so great about being forced to beat people within an inch of their life?” Pidge said indignantly, her brows furrowing in irritation. “And before you say anything, no. I will not use a wish to force you to answer my questions.”

He seemed entirely too surprised. “Why do you want to know so badly?”

“Because you’re a frickin’ genie who’s camped out in my living room and I’ve never in my life experienced anything like this, so I want to know. If supernatural shit supposedly exists, then I need to rectify my ignorance, don’t I?” She sighed and straightened out her legs, bending over to pick at some lint on her jeans. “It’s not like I’m trying to sell information online or anything. I just find it interesting. What, do people never ask you questions?”

“Not ones like yours. Like I said: unlimited power. Most people jump at the opportunity to do whatever they want over asking questions about me.”

“Well that seems boring.” Pidge straightened, and when she met Lance’s gaze, his intense scrutiny made her cheeks flush a bit. “I mean, I kind of want to get rid of you quickly too, but this is a learning opportunity. I just want to know why you like the contracts. Why do you need them?”

Lance had an odd look on his face as if he was having trouble understanding her motives.

“…I get to return to being a human,” he admitted, a hint of melancholy drifting in his voice.

Her brows skipped up. “You were human once?”

“We all were.”

His response was said through grit teeth, and Pidge recognised his discomfort. She wanted to ask him how he ended up a genie if he was human to begin with, but personal questions like that were definitely overstepping boundaries. And in a way, he seemed so sad, even if he wasn’t particularly showing it. But the way he’d responded had made something in her heart hurt a bit.

Lance’s eyes had some deep pain in them, pain she recognised as loss. Pain she knew she’d felt when years ago, Matt’s plane had crashed on some remote island and they hadn’t been able to find out any updates on where he was or his status for a good year or so.

Whatever had Lance’s eyes looking like that was a source of trauma for him.

“So then Lance McClain really is your name?” she asked instead.

“Yeah.”

“Hmm…” She hopped off the table and moved to pull on her ratty pair of sneakers lined up by the wall. “Do you eat human food?”

“I can in this form, although I don’t necessarily need it for sustenance,” Lance answered in confusion, watching her as she grabbed her keys and wallet and popped on a baseball cap over her hair. “I prefer it to the stuff usually served in the underworld though. Not a fan of hearts and brains, you know?”

Pidge snorted and turned to face him with her hands on her hips. “So what’s your favourite food then, Lance?”

“Uh, garlic knots?”

Lance’s utter bewilderment was really amusing. She could just tell that he was trying to work out her reasons for asking him random questions.

“Do you like baked goods and pastries?”

He watched her through suspicious blue eyes. “Where are you going with this?”

“I just thought if I’m stuck with you, I might as well entertain you somehow, right? C’mon, we’re going on a field trip.” She took his arm and tugged him up to his feet. Lance stood up reluctantly, and once on his feet, Pidge let go of him, surprised by the cold chill that had gone through her body from the contact. He wasn’t undead, but damn, sometimes he _felt_ that way. “Besides, I want to visit my friend and you must be tired of being cooped up in the apartment all day.

Lance gave her a dry look. “You just don’t trust me to be here alone.”

“Smart man,” she responded, giving him a look to follow her over her shoulder as she walked to the door. “This place is cool. It won’t bore you to tears. Promise.”

Lance changed into something casual topped with a beanie with a flick of his hand and followed her as they left her apartment. Pidge thought it was kind of cute how he was subtly trying to look around the city and at the environment as they made their way out of her complex and walked down the sidewalk. She didn’t know where he’d lived as a human or what kind of places he’d seen in his time as a genie, but his curiosity amused her. If he wanted to explore her city, all he had to do was ask.

“We’ve been walking for a while…” Lance slipped his hands in his pockets and gave her a playful glare when they traverse yet another crosswalk and trudged through a public playground. “Are you trying to trick me to bring me to that monster research society shit?”

“Not even remotely, you absolute goober.” Pidge rolled her eyes, though she did feel remorse at what she’d said to him the day before. She’d been annoyed at the time, but maybe that hadn’t been the best way to treat him. “I, uh, I know I said that yesterday… but umm, I didn’t really mean it. Sorry if I pissed you off.”

Lance was quiet for so long that she thought he’d missed her comment over the sound of traffic, but when she glanced at him, he was staring off into the distance, jaw clenched like he was deep in thought and having trouble wrapping his mind around something.

“…What’s your game?” he muttered under his breath.

“Huh?”

He shook his head and turned to give her a wide grin that looked absolutely fake. That undertone of something sinister was lurking at the edge of his gaze again, and it made Pidge a little nervous.

“So where are you taking me then?”

“Oh, uh,” She broke her gaze and jutted her chin out in the direction of the bakery they were approaching on the other side of the park. “You haven’t lived until you go to Hunkalicious.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a bakery run by my best friend, Hunk. He makes the most extraordinary cakes, sweets, and cookies. You name it, he can make it. He’d probably be able to make garlic knots too. He’s such an angel.”

Lance sighed. “I didn’t realise I’d signed up to be forced to meet your friends…”

“What? You seemed like a people person so I thought you’d enjoy this.” She came to a stop in front of the bakery with the angel wing sign and the gold rimmed doors and windows. She pulled open the door. “Don’t tell me you’re a loner or something? You were way too flamboyant when we met to be one. I wouldn’t believe it at all.”

For being relatively early in the morning, it wasn’t packed and she was glad. That meant Hunk would be more likely to let her try free stuff. If she recalled correctly, he was trying new recipes for his macarons and one of them was supposed to have peanut butter filling.

Pidge turned to Lance when he didn’t walk in and subsequently frowned. Lance had gone entirely still, his face a bit paler than before and his breathing sounded heavier as he stared inside the shop.

“…Lance? What’s wrong?”

He swallowed hard and licked his lips. “N-nothing’s wrong. Let’s go see your friend.”

Lance didn’t look open to talking about what his deal was so Pidge shrugged and headed in, Lance right behind her. His exhales were ever so slightly trembling and she wondered what had him shaken up because he’d been fine just a few seconds earlier.

Lance really was a weird one.

When they walked in, Hunk was finishing ringing someone up at the register and gesticulating wildly as he told them something. The customer looked thoroughly amused as he handed her a business card and then left with a cheerful smile. Pidge couldn’t help her own smile as she watched him work. He always had a perfect ability to cheer anyone up, as if he could read into their hearts and know exactly what they needed to feel better.

Hunk’s bakery was one of the most popular spots in the city for a reason and it was definitely because of him. When he’d started this bakery after college, he hadn’t expected it to even last this long, but she was glad his ambitions had led to this success.

“Hunk, I’ve arrived to be your taste tester,” Pidge said, announcing her presence. “You can’t say no. Hey, Shay.”

Hunk’s girlfriend grinned and waved at Pidge from where she was speaking on the phone and filling out a catering order. She saw Lance and a frown marred her brow for a moment.

“I’m not surprised. You’re always here whenever I test out new flavours.” Hunk sighed and chuckled as he looked up. “Come to the…”

Hunk’s gaze drifted from her to Lance beside her, and she wondered if she imagined his smile slipping just the slightest bit. Lance stiffened beside her and when she looked at him, his teeth were grit so hard she could see a muscle ticking in his jaw. When Pidge turned to look back at Hunk, he’d already rectified his expression with a smile too cheerful and sugary sweet to be normal.

What the hell was going on?

“Who is this?” Hunk teased as Pidge grabbed Lance’s hand and made him come with her to the back room where Hunk made his baked goods. He was just so slightly resisting, his whole body stiff. “Pidge, you got yourself a boyfriend and you didn’t even tell me?”

“Urgh, he’s not my boyfriend. He’s uh…” Exchange student? That wouldn’t work. She wasn’t even in school anymore. She couldn’t tell Hunk about the genie thing though. Hunk staunchly didn’t believe in the supernatural stuff either. He believed in it even less than she did. “Uh… he’s just some dude who’s travelling from overseas who… uhh, who… umm… because— because he’s… doing voice over work for our new game! I’m hosting him! Lance, meet Hunk. Hunk, meet Lance.”

“Oh cool.” Hunk looked intrigued enough, but there was bite to his words as he stared at Lance. “Where from?"

Pidge gave Lance a pleading look.

Lance rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. “Cuba.”

Something about his tone and the uneasy look on his face told her that Cuba wasn’t something he’d come up with on the fly. Was Lance Cuban then?

“I hope your stay has been comfortable,” Hunk said congenially enough. “I’m Samoan, myself. Been here for years, but not a day goes by that I don’t miss my homeland.”

“Yeah…” Lance’s smile looked a little wan. “I know the feeling.”

“How long have you been here? Staying with Pidge, I mean.”

Pidge blinked at the odd question, her nose wrinkling at the odd tension that seemed to exist between the two of them. Hunk was straightened up to his full height and even Lance who usually stood with a partial slouch was on edge, this look in his eyes like he was ready to fight if need be.

“I travel a lot for work. It’s been just about a couple days now.”

“That so?” Hunk’s smile had an edge to it. Pidge didn’t understand why he seemed so standoffish, especially considering he was the friendliest guy she knew. But something about Lance was clearly rubbing him the wrong way and she wondered if it was because he thought they were hooking up or something. “Travelling around the world, right?”

Lance’s eyes narrowed. “…I guess.”

“Please tell me you two aren’t having a cock measuring contest right now.” Pidge scoffed and rolled her eyes when they both glanced at her with these poor attempts at innocent looks. “Seriously? I can smell the weird tension between you two a mile away. Hunk, I’m not with Lance, so the overprotectiveness is not necessary. And Lance, I have no idea what _your_ damage is, but you’re being weird. Now can we stop this?”

“Sorry, Pidge. I wasn’t trying to make your friend uncomfortable. He seems nice enough,” Hunk said slowly in a way that didn’t come across like he believed that at all.

“He is nice.” Pidge nudged Hunk in the stomach playfully. “So can we move on so I can get my free shit already?”

Hunk laughed and ruffled Pidge’s hair and she swatted at his hands. “Hey, Romelle, can you handle front for me? I’m going to the back for a bit.”

“On it, bossman.” Romelle eyed Lance with a measure of mistrust as she left the batter she was mixing.

Hunk led them to the homely kitchen in the back where he made most of his goods and tested out new recipes. There was a heavenly smell coming from the room, but Pidge was a little distracted from the odd reception Lance had received.

She wondered what was going on with Lance too. He was extremely uneasy, but above that, he was eyeing Hunk warily like he didn’t quite trust him. Maybe they’d met before?

She was definitely going to check in with him later to see what was going on with him.

 

* * *

 

Lance was really starting to wonder if his luck had been fucked from the very start of his life.

When Katie had called Hunk an angel, Lance hadn’t realised that she’d meant a _literal_ angel. As in one of the blinding golden ones that was every Nevermore inhabitant’s absolute nightmare. Lance doubted that Katie knew what her best friend really was. Or that his coworkers were also angels.

But Lance could see it clear as day.

It wasn’t even like Hunk was hiding his wings. Humans couldn’t see it, but Hunk’s aura was vividly gold and in the shape of wings behind his back, which was why Lance _knew_ no Nevermore inhabitants would approach his bakery with a ten foot pole. Hunkalicious itself was also stifling Lance’s breathing because of Hunk’s sheer intensity.

This was a safe zone from creatures of the night and Katie had unintentionally brought him straight into the lion’s den. Lance almost _wished_ she’d taken him to the monster research society place instead. Because from the looks of it, this Hunk guy knew that Lance was from Nevermore. The muscled Samoan was going along with Katie’s ruse of Lance being a voice actor, but the fire in Hunk’s gaze told Lance that if he even misstepped once, the angel would spear him in the head.

It was why he’d kept his distance while Katie tried whatever Hunk wanted her to, standing back by the freezers and keeping an eye on Hunk. The angel had offered him some stuff to try too, but Lance wasn’t about to take any chances.

“Pidge, do you mind helping out to hand out some of these samples to people outside walking by the bakery?” Hunk asked her, handing her a tray of some cut pieces of the confection he’d had her try. “I need some other feedback since all you’re doing is stuffing your face.”

She wiped some crumbs from her face. “I knew there was a catch.”

“Please? Just this one favour?” Hunk pleaded, pouting cutely and clasping his hands together. “I promise I’ll even try to be your player two with you on one of your gaming sessions.”

“Okay, how could I say no to that?”

Katie took the tray and left the back room, and Lance immediately uncrossed his arms, watching Hunk’s tense back as the man watched Katie leave.

He tried to prepare himself for sudden transformation in case Hunk attacked him, but before he could even go back to his wispy form, Hunk vanished and reappeared in front of him, shoving him against the freezer by the neck with a golden staff flaring with heat. His eyes were glowing gold and he was snarling. Lance partially choked, reaching up to grasp the staff and trying to alleviate the pressure on his throat. There was just enough to threaten him from moving, but not enough to really make it hard for him to breathe, but being near Hunk was enough of a deterrent.

“I _know_ what you are. You’re a creature of the night!” Hunk hissed, pressing harder on Lance’s throat. “I don’t know what kind, but you better not have put any spells on Pidge. If you have her under your control, release her now or I’ll send you right back to the underworld!”

“What?! Chill out!” Lance could barely breathe from Hunk’s vice grip. “I’m not some malicious typical demon or anything. I’m a djinn! Here simply to grant her wishes!”

Well, not fully malicious anyway.

Hunk’s brows furrowed, his eyes going back to their normal chestnut hue. “Is that really all it is?”

“You can ask her if you don’t believe me. She knows everything about what I am. We talked about the terms and conditions and she still signed my contract anyway.”

“With blood?” Hunk growled.

“That’s how our contracts work.”

“I don’t trust you. Blood pacts are usually always accompanied by something sinister. And on top of that, you could be deceiving her!”

“You’re really going to talk about deception and trust when Katie clearly doesn’t even know that you’re an angel?” Lance sneered at him, deflecting the conversation. “She hardly believes supernatural creatures exist when you’re one and you’ve completely allowed her to believe that. Some best friend you are.”

“I can’t tell her what I am. I’m bound by my pact of protection. If she finds out, we’d have to sever ties and her memories of me would be wiped.”

Despite the aggression in his tone, regret still appeared in his gaze, and Lance felt his own ire subside. Hunk looked upset by the fact. Lance could clearly see that if he could, Hunk would have told Katie ages ago.

“Pact of protection?”

“I’m Katie’s guardian angel, assigned to her since she was in the first grade.” Hunk sighed, his gaze hazy from his reminiscing. “I was supposed to keep my distance, but she was bullied all through junior high so I became her friend. I was going to pretend to move away in high school and break the bond, but things kept happening to her family, and I couldn’t just desert her. She was my first real friend too. I have a soft spot for her. And if you hurt her at all, believe you me, I’ll have no qualms losing my wings to get you.”

Lance believed it.

“I won’t be hurting her at all,” Lance said, meaning every word.

Losing her soul would be at most like a little roller coaster ride to a dark and dreary world. Now what Haggar decided to do with her soul afterward? That was on her and had nothing to do with him. He’d be long gone by then, back to Cuba and his family.

“…Alright.” Hunk made the golden staff disappear and stepped back, though his expression was still full of mistrust. “But know that I keep a very close tab on her wellbeing. I’m watching you.”

Lance rubbed at his throat, narrowing his eyes at Hunk and tempted to say something to spite him for the manhandling. He’d see how well he was actually keeping watch over her when her soul got taken.

“Trust me. I’m not going to be bringing any harm to her,” Lance said in response, but before he could say anything else, Hunk stopped him and set a hand on his shoulder.

“You know, I’m not just a guardian angel for Pidge’s benefit, right? I’m an angel. I chase away demons and other afflictions too. Yours would count.”

Lance was a little surprised by the offer. He _was_ technically Hunk’s enemy. “Wouldn’t do me any good. I’m not possessed.”

“I know.” Hunk eyed him curiously. “Considering you didn’t burn when I had my staff on your neck. What turned you?”

“I wasn’t turned either.” Turned creatures lost their minds, selves, and hearts and became the dangerous terrifying ones he staunchly avoided. Those were the ones that wreaked havoc on general society and caused scares. The things that go bump in the night. Lance lifted his wrist to show Hunk the cuff. “I’m human. Well, I was. This is a witch’s curse.”

Hunk’s hand slid off his shoulder in shock. “You… you were cursed by a sorceress? But why? What did you do?”

Lance smiled ruefully. “I insulted her.”

Hunk looked appalled. “…Are you insane?”

“Probably…”

But there was no way he could have possibly known that some palm reading soothsayer could have ended up being a vicious witch. He’d just never believed things like that existed in the real world and he’d only asked for his fortune as a joke. Of course, hindsight was twenty-twenty and he wished he hadn’t laughed and called her a fraud knowing all that had ended up happening to him. But it was definitely a lesson to be learned since he’d been a little bit of a jerk back in his college years.

Definitely not enough of a dick to deserve _this_ fate, but he’d been so full of himself and cocky. All those fairy tales about selfish prick princes should have cautioned him that he was heading down a similar path.

He’d never expected a spring break trip with his frat to end like that.

“How long have you been cursed?” Hunk asked softly, empathy in his eyes as he looked at Lance.

It made Lance feel weird.

Both Katie and Hunk had shown interest in his plight for some reason, when they had every reason not to. Lance was Hunk’s foe, an adversary that by all means, he could just exterminate. And he was Katie’s tool to be used. No one else cared about stuff like this. So why were they asking him so many questions?

Before he could respond, Katie’s footsteps sounded through the corridor.

“Hey, Hunk, your new macaron flavours were a huge hit! Got you tons more publicity.” Katie walked back in wearing one of the Hunkalicious aprons and carrying the empty tray. She looked at them and her face went suspicious. “What’s with the vibe back here? Don’t tell me you guys were still fighting?”

“Just a friendly chat.” Hunk thumped his shoulder with an honest smile and nearly sent Lance sprawling on the counter. “Listen, Pidge, we’ve got a pretty big catering order coming for pickup in about three hours. I wish I could chat longer, but I have to get to work.”

“Yeah, I know you’re busy.” She gave Hunk back the apron and after a quick hug, she held up a full pastry bag. “Shay said I could have these, though. On the house. Text me when you guys have time to hang out. Tell Lu to text me too. And if Kinkade or Rizavi stop by, could you let them know I fixed his camcorder?”

Hunk’s lips pulled into a fond smile. “Absolutely.”

They said their goodbyes and Hunk gave Lance a poignant look before he finally left with Katie. Lance could not describe the breath of relief he felt when they were finally outside of the bakery and he could breathe right again. Katie was practically skipping down the side walk, looking at her bag of cookies nearly lovestruck.

“You’re awfully chipper,” Lance said with a snort.

“These are the best peanut butter cookies this side of town. Maybe even in the whole world. And I get more than a dozen for free every time I come here.”

“And you called me a mooch…” he drawled.

Katie’s cheeks went a little red as she glared at him and he couldn’t help but think she was actually a lot cuter up close than he’d originally noticed. She had these little freckles littering her nose and cheeks that weren’t that prominent, but they were somehow so _her_.

“You are a mooch! You’re living rent free in my apartment!”

He picked at his fingernail. “I wouldn’t necessarily say rent free considering your last two meals were made courtesy of me. Plus I cleaned up that mess in there. And let me tell you, black mould is utterly dangerous for your health, so one could make the argument that I _saved_ _your life_.”

“I—!” She closed her gaping mouth and looked away in annoyance. Clearly she hated losing arguments and it really amused Lance. “I’m not sharing any cookies with you, you noodle!”

She started walking faster and he let her go off, laughing to himself. He slipped his hands into his pockets and then paused when he realised there was something in there. When he pulled it out, it was a gold embroidered note. Lance hadn’t even realised that was in there in the first place, but Hunk must have slipped that in his pocket secretly.

_I know someone who might be able to help you. If you’re interested, call me._

Hunk’s number was also written at the bottom of the note, and Lance frowned. It wasn’t like he needed help anymore. And how exactly was someone supposed to “help” him? Short of breaking the curse, nothing would work. Believe him. Lance had looked for other solutions but Haggar’s terms of a soul exchange for wishes was the only way. Besides, he was already almost done with the curse. Katie just had to make her last four wishes and that would be the end of it, so he didn’t really need another solution since he found his last person.

But Lance was a little curious.

Who could Hunk possibly know with enough power to reverse a binding spell like the one Haggar had inflicted upon him?

“Lance?” Katie had stopped walking and had turned to him. “What’s that?”

“Just some old trash…” He stuffed it in his jean pocket and caught up to her. “Didn’t know I still had it in my clothes.”

“You know…” she started, looking a little uneasy. “Hunk’s not normally aggressive like that. I don’t know why he got so weird around you, but he’s really a sweetheart. I was going to ask him to make some garlic knots, but maybe next time, I guess. Sorry.”

Lance hummed. “You’ve been friends with him pretty much your whole life, right?”

“Since junior high, but yeah. He’s been an integral part.”

“You must know him really well, huh…” Lance’s lips twisted into a sardonic smirk. “Lot of trust in your friendship.”

She met his gaze, a small frown between her brows as she stared at him. He didn’t know what she was looking for in his face, but he merely crossed his arms in front of his chest, unperturbed by her scrutiny.

“I know there are some things he’s not telling me, but I don’t question it,” Katie responded quietly, a hint of something vulnerable in her voice. “I haven’t made too many friends in my life, but if there’s one person I know I can still trust implicitly despite whatever he’s hiding, it’s always Hunk. I’m lucky to have him in my life. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s like he’s always been my protector or something. I still don’t know how to this day, but he was the one who figured out where Matt was when his plane crashed.”

“Your brother, Matt?”

“Yeah. He has his pilot’s licence. When I was in my sophomore year of high school, Matt’s plane crashed when he was going on one of his backpacking adventures. We couldn’t find him or his plane for a year and we all thought he was dead.” Katie looked behind her towards the store they’d just left. “I’d never seen my mom and dad so broken over losing their child in the time Matt was gone. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for Hunk, our family might have crumbled to pieces. His intuition is second to none because the fact that he figured it out when even trained professionals couldn’t is something that amazes me to this day.”

Lance hadn’t realised the lengths to which Hunk had gone to make sure Katie was okay. He didn’t know much about angel lore, but guardian angels were supposed to only protect their wards from physical harm. It seemed like Hunk had gone above and beyond for Katie’s sake.

He stared at the ground, trying not to think about what she’d said about her parents. They’d be losing a different child this time and permanently. If that was how they’d dealt with Matt’s disappearance, he couldn’t imagine what it would be like for them with losing Katie.

It didn’t matter though.

Lance didn’t even know what _his_ own parents had felt or dealt with in his absence. He’d never returned after all, and five years of grieving was enough for a parent to go through. He would honestly give anything to see his parents again, to heal their broken hearts and help them find happiness. He _knew_ his family. He knew the way they responded to loss and if it was anything like when tío abuelo Ernesto had passed away, his mother especially wouldn’t be doing so well. In these five years, he’d never even so much as had a chance to look into their lives or the aftermath of his disappearance.

He desperately needed to be back home even if it cost Katie her life, though the thought had him feeling some type of way.

“He’s a really good friend,” Lance finally responded, feeling a little weird about the conversation.

“He’s always had my back. No matter what he’s going through.” She smiled. “And I’ve never been able to do much for him before, but I can now, so I want to use my second wish on him, even if that equivalent exchange thing fucks me up.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“I wish that every one of Hunk’s endeavours he willingly pursues—no matter what they are—I hope they’re always successful the way he would want them to be successful.”

Lance couldn’t lie he was taken aback by the nature of that wish. He thought for sure she’d wish for Hunk’s bakery to become world famous or something. Or that he win money or something.

“That’s… a pretty intense wish.”

And not even for herself.

She wrung her hands together, a faint blush on her cheeks. “Yeah, well, he’s my bestie. Least I could do.”

“Right.” Lance nodded, snapping his fingers. “So you wished it, so shall it be done.”

 She sighed, satisfied as she watched the blue magic from his fingertips dissipate into the air.

“So what now?” Lance asked.

“I don’t really feel like going home yet. And it’s not like you have friends to hang out with here so…” Katie walked backwards in front of him, her gaze soft as she looked at him. “Do you want to go see a movie or something? You’re probably bored.”

His brows lifted in surprise.

Hanging out with her, getting to know her better, didn’t seem like a good idea—he needed to keep his distance—but Lance felt kind of bad. Her soul was about to get sucked up. The least he could do was entertain her for the time being.

“As long as it’s a cheesy romance movie I can make fun of.”

“Are you kidding? That’s like my favourite thing to do!” Katie snickered as she turned to guide them to the theatre. “Well, that and play video games.”

Lance too.

He tried to keep from showing his surprise.

“Cool.” He sidled up to her side and matched her pace with a nonchalant smile. “I don’t have any money though so…”

Her own smile turned into a look of displeasure. “See? You are such a damn mooch.”

“I mean, you don’t have to entertain me. No one else did. I can make do.”

It was supposed to be a throwaway comment, but she must have caught something in his tone because her brows furrowed, concern in her amber gaze. He found it hard to believe that she actually seemed upset about what he’d said and he had to look away from the glimmer of subtle pain in her eyes. From their first few meetings, he’d thought she’d be cold and calculating, but she was quickly showing herself to be a pretty warm person, if not a little awkward in some ways.

Most of him didn’t buy it. He thought she was putting on an act to gain his trust or something. But the rest of him…?

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” he added, hoping she didn’t think he was lamenting or something. Those people had been great motivating factors in his ceaseless work to get out of his curse. “I’m just a tool. You don’t have to treat me like a human.”

She looked like she wanted to argue, but she stayed her words and instead linked her arm with his. She shivered a bit when she touched him, but otherwise didn’t move. Lance’s heart jumped a bit in his chest from the unexpected action.

“Right, so we’re _not_ going to do that, because you _are_ human.” Katie glanced up at him out of the corner of her eye. “And I don’t know if your other people let you do whatever you wanted, but when I’m at work, feel free to go wherever you want, kay? I keep a spare key on top of my door frame outside my door.”

“…okay.”

Her lips pulled up into a smirk. “I’m paying for this movie only because you may be a mooch, but you’re my mooch and it is my responsibility that you can mooch properly.”

Lance couldn’t respond to that, staring at her as she guided them towards the movie theatre she wanted them to go to. He’d never met anyone like this woman before. She was so different from how she approached him, how she used his powers, how she talked to him. He was actually looking forward to watching this movie with her. He didn’t mind her company.

And honestly, that scared him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao my amateur poetry is utter shite xD

Lance stared hard at the door with the enchanted brass white lion knocker.

He wasn’t attuned to magic or anything of the sort, and by most accounts, he was a baby creature of the night and had learned to pick up on enchantments well enough. Five years was hardly enough time to become seasoned, but even he could tell that whoever lived in this place was quite knowledgeable about the dangers that lurked in the shadows. To humans, all the apartments in this complex looked the same, but anyone with a lick of supernatural sense could see this particular oak door with the elaborate, intricate knocker and gold framing. He didn’t doubt the interior would be just as enchanted.

This place could be Lance’s worse nightmare too.

Hunk had told him to come to this address and while Lance had, he wasn’t particularly in a mood to have his heart stop if he even touched the door with so many spells of protection tacked onto it. He wanted to believe maybe Hunk was trying to lure him into a trap, but Hunk had been earnest and genuine when they’d talked on the phone, and against his will, Lance had found himself trusting the angel. He could see why Katie loved him so much. Hunk really was going out of his way to help people, Lance included. He’d left his bakery to Shay and Romelle for the day so he could introduce Lance to the apparent person who could help.

Lance sighed, still tentative to knock on that lion knocker.

He was just doing this because he was curious. _Not_ because he was actually looking for help. It’d taken him nearly a week to make up his mind and call Hunk, but Katie had gone to work the past few days and he’d found himself restless and bored without her company, so in the end, he’d caved.

And speaking of that pint sized little menace, it was surprising to him that she hadn’t made any wishes in that time. He had no idea why. Despite her constantly saying she found him annoying—and kicking his shins or chucking things at him!—she didn’t seem to be in a rush to rid herself of him. She was constantly studying him, watching his actions, and keeping track of his motions. But it wasn’t from mistrust or something.

Katie was genuinely curious in an endearing way.

She didn’t ask him any super personal questions anymore, but whenever she’d come back from work, she’d taken him to other random spots in the city and bowling and arcades or they just hung out at her apartment—like that day they’d spontaneously decided to try to marathon Gilligan’s Island, but they couldn’t get past like ten episodes. (Honestly, the show infuriated them both and Lance didn’t understand why the stranded people didn’t just kill Gilligan). To be honest, he was starting to look forward to their evening adventures. Most times, she was half-asleep or some form of groggy, especially after work, but she was pretty cool and hanging out with her was fun.

Lance had tried to make an effort to keep things as impersonal as he could, but it was practically impossible when they spent pretty much all their time together. And he found it hard to say no when she told him she wanted to go out and have some fun. There was just something about the way she looked up at him with her big, glimmering eyes that made him _weak_. The more small things he found out about her—like how she put milk first in her bowl, the way her nose scrunched up in concentration when she was tinkering with tech, the flower she would leave in that old man’s mailbox when she thought no one was looking—the harder it was to pretend she was just another soul notch on his cuff. They could have been good friends in another life.

But this wasn’t another life though.

And at some point, he’d be selling her soul.

Lance took a deep breath and grasped the knocker, expecting to get electrocuted right out of his body, but to his relief, nothing happened. He knocked on the heavy oak door and waited. Honestly, Lance had already fulfilled his objective with Katie. She was his 100th soul and the contract was set. He was going to be free soon, but it didn’t hurt to see what Hunk had meant about the person who _might_ be able to help him.

The door opened to reveal a smiling Hunk.

“Hey, Lance. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble getting here?”

“It was fine,” he responded, still a little anxious as he followed Hunk inside.

He’d been right about the interior being enchanted to the nines, looking like some gigantic wing in a castle as opposed to a small, cramped apartment. The whole place was littered with books on bookshelves, glass orbs, talismans, sutras, dried up weirdly shaped twigs on the walls. And as if that wasn’t enough, there were multiple chandeliers adorning the high ceiling. It was the weirdest thing he’d ever seen in his life.

“ I hope Katie isn’t giving you too much trouble,” Hunk said conversationally, following a plush decorative carpet and guiding Lance past the ample amount of bookshelves and further in the apartment. “She told me you pretty much make all the food.”

“She eats a lot. It’s surprising considering her size.”

“Crazy, isn’t it?” Hunk smiled and gave him a playful look over his shoulder. “Her metabolism is a monster. We shared an apartment through college and I had to start labelling food.”

Lance couldn’t help the soft smile that came to his own lips. Katie was for all intents and purposes a little gremlin, but it was charming. She was pretty cute, especially when she would trudge out of her room in the mornings looking like roadkill and then perk up immediately when she saw breakfast waiting for her.

Lance very quickly shucked the thoughts from his mind. “So who’s this weirdo you want me to meet?”

“She’s not a weirdo.” Hunk winced. “Well… she is a _little_ weird. But she’s something like a priestess. Or a good witch. We’re not all totally sure. In any case, she’s the spitting image reincarnation of some magical princess from centuries ago. Apparently, the princess fell in love with some demon or something and died protecting him. She was reborn as her. She’s not _that_ great at using her powers truth be told. Still learning, but she’s broken some pretty nasty curses before so she might be able to help.”

Hunk took them to what was probably a small alcove with a beaded curtain. It looked like a funky hippie chill room and was very out of place considering the area they’d just left. Lance wasn’t sure if this area was also spelled or this was a normal part of the apartment.

There _was_ some very strong incense being burned from inside though and Lance had to clear his throat several times as his eyes watered. What was with all these people and their intense methods to subdue Nevermore creatures? Thank goodness he wasn’t an actual full-blown demon. He was pretty sure this stuff would have killed him.

“Lulu, this is the guy I was telling you about who got cursed,” Hunk announced, ushering him inside the alcove.  “Lance, this is the priestess.”

They both sat down on the pillows on her woven rug across from a single pillow and in front of a giant pot with some ghastly stench coming out of it. The young woman who’d been perusing some texts in the corner turned around. Strands of her long white hair got in her mouth, and she spluttered to get it out, in the process, tripping as she moved to sit across from them.

“Hi! I’m Lulu! Well, my name is Allura, but that was really the princess’s name and it’s so archaic sounding. Plus people make fun of me.” She wrung her hands in her lap, letting out a nervous chuckle. “Can’t shake your hand though. You might die.”

Lance’s face dropped, and Hunk sighed in exasperation beside him.

“I’m just kidding!” She giggled, though her face was twisted a bit apologetically. “Sorry. That’s an inside joke since I can’t really control my powers and accidentally killed someone once.”

“…Maybe I should go.” Lance looked behind his shoulder.

“No no! That was also another joke!” She groaned, turning to Hunk in distress. “Why doesn’t anyone ever find it funny?”

“Lu… we talked about this.”

She pouted at Hunk and Lance chuckled to himself.

“You said people make fun of you?” Lance asked.

She had admittedly abnormal white hair and the crescent moon looking tattoos under her eyes were very prominent on her face, but all things considered, she was gorgeous. The kind of girl Lance would assume would have had ample popularity in high schools.

“They think I’m cursed because weird stuff keeps happening around me. Doesn’t matter. You get used to it when it happens every day. Let me get the tea.”

Allura stood up to head out of another door of the alcove and slipped on a corner of the rug. She just barely caught herself from crashing to the ground and chuckled nervously as she waved their concern off and moved to the kitchen.

“Why is she so twitchy?” Lance whispered to Hunk. “She didn’t really kill someone before, did she?”

“No, that was honestly her attempt at a joke. You see those marks on her face? They’re called the Mark of the Chosen. From the old princess.”

“Huh?”

“There’s a prophecy apparently that her lover was banished to the underworld for refusing to kill her and one day when he’s served his time, he’ll come back to take her as his bride. That’s the only way he can recognise her since she’s been stuck reincarnating until he returns. So she’s pretty on edge. She has all her memories of her past life too. Gets them through dreams so she barely sleeps.”

“You know what, I’m sorry I asked…” Lance sighed. He may have gotten cursed but that didn’t mean he was now interested in all this weird supernatural mumbojumbo and fairy tales.

Why were Katie’s friends so weird?

Allura came back with a tray of small cups of tea, and Hunk quickly rose up to take it from her. In the end, it was a smart decision since she tripped on the same corner of the rug from before and in the process of trying to get her footing, slipped and fell flat on her face. Lance and Hunk both moved to help her, wincing, but she put a hand up.

“I’m okay. This happens at least thrice a day. I’m fine.” Allura sat back down on her pillow with a sigh, looking thoroughly distraught though she mustered up a weak smile.

Lance was honestly a bit perturbed. How did she live like this?

Hunk set the tray down beside them and handed them the cups of tea. They drank in silence, though Lance felt nervous by the way Allura was observing him, as if digging deep into his soul. He realised her pupils didn’t even look black, but rather purple, only made worse by the way the lighting hit her face. It was kind of scary.

“So. Hunk tells me you were cursed by a sorceress? May I see your wrists?” Lance held out both wrists and Allura scowled at them, a look of her shock on her face as she ran her hand lightly over the gold cuffs. Her fingers were trembling the slightest bit and when he looked at her face, the marks were glowing softly. “You were cursed by a pure blooded witch.”

“What does that mean?” he asked quietly.

“They’re a thankfully dying breed, but dangerous in every way because of the lack of limitations in their powers. It takes a priestess of extraordinary strength and pure energy to be able to break something like this.”

Hunk glanced at Lance in worry and Lance’s brows drew down. “Are you one?”

“I suppose. If I were trained properly, perhaps. But I’m still learning,” Allura said apologetically. “I can definitely try, if you want? But even my abilities aren’t strong enough against whatever this evil witch did to you. I’ll need to research a bit.”

She leaned over to grab a notepad from the top of a small lamp stand. The sharp corner snagged the tablecloth and she yanked too hard on it. The mini lion statue and the lamp went along with it, everything crashing to the ground as Allura yelped. She laughed anxiously and then pulled a pencil from behind her ear to write in it. Lance felt bad for her. He couldn’t imagine a life being plagued by nightmares of the death of a previous loved one. It wasn’t even her life, but it was so tethered to her and her destiny, that no doubt she had never truly been able to lead a life of her own.

“So what is your story, Lance McClain.”

“How do you know my full name?”

“I’m a priestess remember?” She tapped her forehead with the eraser of her pencil, but when Lance hardly changed his expression she sighed. “It’s another joke. Sorry, nevermind. What happened?”

“I encountered a witch named Haggar who asked me if I wanted a palm reading. So I said yes. At the time, I was kind of a shittier guy, so I thought she’d say the usual thing I’d heard before that I would have riches and glory and all the hot babes I could ever want.” Lance shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably when both Hunk and Allura stared at him in rapt attention. “That’s what all the fakes would say when they caught wind of what kind of guy I was. So I was expecting a similar answer.”

“What did she say?” Hunk asked softly.

“She told me she foresaw a meaningless existence full of misery unless I changed my ways, and I guess I just…” Lance frowned. “It was like— I dunno… the _way_ she said it, like she was so sure kind of freaked me out. I never believed in any supernatural stuff, but when she said that, I believed it. I honestly believed my life would be miserable. And it made me angry that she could make me question myself with a few key words, so I called her a fraud and mocked her with my buddies.”

Allura scribbled in her notepad. “And then?”

“And then her hands and eyes glowed and she cursed me and my whole body felt like something was sucked out. Eternity or one hundred. I didn’t realise I was frozen until my friends told me to stop wasting my time with the fake. Before I left, she was giving me a look that made a chill run down my back.”

He would never forget the dream he had that night, where Haggar stood menacingly over him saying over and over ‘am I a fraud now’?

“When I woke up, I was in Nevermore with shackles on my wrists. It’s still the worst experience of my life to this day and I’ve been stuck like this for five years.”

“What did she mean by eternity or one hundred?”

There was no way he was going to tell them in full about the one hundred souls being dragged to the underworld. If he even mentioned that, Hunk would spear him in the heart without a second thought.

“She’d spelled me and tethered me to a rusted oil lamp. Unless one hundred people use my powers, I would be trapped for eternity.”

“Do you remember the incantation?” Allura scratched her dishevelled head of hair with the tip of the pencil. “In order to break a curse, I would need to break all parts of it which I can only do if I know the entire incantation. Do you know what language she was speaking in?”

“I don’t know the language she was using, but I could understand it somehow.” It still brought chills down his back just thinking about it. “ _Thou arrogance hath made thee daft, forthwith insolence struck its last. Eternal servitude until unselfish choice of thy free will. Where nightmares creep thou shalt remain. One hundred strong thou will attain. Mortality henceforth reversed. Thy soul I bind with such this curse._ ”

Allura was writing in her notepad for so long, Lance wondered if she’d forgotten that they were sitting right in front of her, but after a few minutes, she hummed to herself and shook her head.

“What?”

“You got off really light considering what I’ve heard about sorceresses. The one time I met one, she was vicious and more interested in getting her youth back by sucking out souls. Sounds like this one was only interested in teaching you a lesson.”

“…Right.”

Lance licked his lips, pretending he wasn’t sweating at what she’d said. Truth be told, he didn’t know what Haggar wanted with the souls at all. She very well could be plotting something sinister, but he’d never questioned it. Just worked his ass off to get out of his curse.

“This is most fascinating. I can assume you’ve already gotten quite a few people to use your powers, but if you would like to sever your connection to this witch who has done this to you, I might be able to do that.” Allura waved her hands enthusiastically as she spoke, her crystalline eyes wide in excitement. “It’ll be rather difficult, like a puzzle. And it might take a little while to figure out—I need to really study this spell—but despite my umm, clumsiness, I am quite competent in my field. Do you mind if I try?”

“I mean, if you want…” Lance uttered at length.

At the end of the day, Allura’s attempt to study the curse would be inconsequential. Katie was his last soul. It didn’t really matter what Allura did. Either way, Lance was going home. If Katie used her last three wishes in the next few days, he’d be done before Allura figured out what she needed to do about the curse. And while the fun he’d been having with Katie was something he was enjoying, at the end of the day, he had one mission, and that was to get back home to his family.

“When I figure it out, I’ll contact Hunk to let you know!”

“Okay.”

The way Lance saw it, he just needed to get Katie to make her wishes.

The sooner, the better.

 

* * *

 

“When’s your birthday anyway, Lance?” Pidge asked, licking the trail of ice cream dribbling down her cone before it dripped onto her fingers.

“Hmm?” he answered absentmindedly, watching people walk by them to check out the flea market stalls. “Oh… uh, late July.”

Pidge stared at him as she nibbled on the ice cream-moistened top part of her cone. Lance had been lost in thought ever since she returned from work, and she wasn’t sure why when he’d been fine that morning. She didn’t think he was bored about the flea market, since he’d been pretty interested when she brought it up the night before when they’d been eating dinner, but he wasn’t particularly talkative right now and there seemed to be a lot on his mind.

 “What’s up with you?” She stood up to face him and put her free hand on his forehead. “You’re less annoying than usual.”

Lance _was_ annoying, but she was really enjoying his company. Most times, she spent her time in her apartment, but having him staying with her was giving her a reason to actually go out and see the world.

Lance looked up at her and gave her a blank look. “Maybe I’m not feeling like having a bruise on my leg today.”

“You pulled my bra strap, you juvenile!”

“Because you tried to give me a wedgie,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, well, I regretted it immediately.”

He didn’t wear underwear for some fucking reason, and it had nearly given Pidge a heart attack when she almost got a handful of ass.

Lance snickered. “You should be thanking me. Not many people get the opportunity to come into contact with my sweet, sweet ass.”

“Do you want to get pantsed in public?” she threatened.

He laughed, genuinely, and Pidge couldn’t help but chuckle too, pleased that she’d managed to improve his mood even a little bit. She didn’t know when she’d made it her mission to cheer Lance up, but the more days went by, the more morose he seemed at times. She didn’t know what kind of life he’d led prior to becoming a genie, but she figured he also liked going out and doing fun stuff with friends. If she could make his captivity even the slightest bit better, she would do it.

Plus—and she would _never_ tell him this—Lance didn’t seem to notice some of the interested looks he garnered from other people and it kind of made her feel like gloating because he was admittedly very attractive. Not that she wanted him as a boyfriend or anything, but they always looked like a couple when they went out because he never pushed her away when she linked her arm up with his. And hell, it wasn’t like she had a responsibility to correct misunderstandings.

“Why the birthday question?” Lance asked, letting Pidge drag him up to his feet by the arm.

“I was curious. So we just missed it?” She tried to finish off her cone as they made their way out of the public park to head back to her apartment. “Your three thousand and first birthday?”

“I didn’t turn three thousand and one.” He gave her an amused look. “I’m twenty-six now.”

She’d been right with her guess. He was roughly two years older than her.

“What’d you do then?”

Lance watched her as she tried to catch the rest of the drip from her cone, but there was melted ice cream all over her hand and a glob dripped right on the front of her shirt. She licked the rest of the ice cream off her hand, and noted that Lance was looking a little green by this point.

“I think I was actually in the underworld then,” he finally answered.

That was a little upsetting.

Even in her time not having friends, she’d always had at least her family to spend her birthday with.

Pidge didn’t know much about Lance’s family, or anything really. That was something she never asked him because she didn’t know how he’d respond to her questions, but he’d never mentioned them, so she assumed he hadn’t had any contact with them at all.

 “You spent it alone?”

“No, I spent my birthday with Keith. He’s a friend I made while in captivity.” Lance was giving her a look of utter disgust as she pulled on the front of her shirt to lick off the stain. “I don’t think since being made a djinn I’ve celebrated a birthday out in the human world.”

“…well that’s depressing.”

He didn’t respond, his gaze on the traffic passing by them while they waited for the crosswalk light to turn green. There was a lot of mystery surrounding Lance and she didn’t want to push him if he really didn’t want to talk about it, and it wasn’t her place to ask. But she wanted to get to know him a little better.

When they finally got back inside her apartment, she’d finished off her cone by then and wiped the rest of the melted bits on her hand off on her shirt, smearing the cotton with some more stains. Lance watched her with hardly an expression on his face, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out how disgusted he was.

“What’s your deal?” Pidge asked crossly as she tossed her keys on the table near her door. “You’ve been staring at me for the past five minutes.”

“Because you’ve worn that t-shirt for the past two days straight and it’s rancid and now you stained it, but I know you’re still going to wear despite that. I’m amazed that you’re that indifferent.” Lance stopped walking in front of her and Pidge stiffened, her eyes narrowing as he slowly turned around to face her. He had this odd glint in his eyes that instantly made her nervous. “It needs to be washed.”

When he took a menacing step towards her, she moved back, really not liking the intent in his gaze.

“It’s not that dirty! I can just pass it under some water!”

Lance was undeterred. “Your hygiene is disgusting. I’m doing a load of laundry so give me the shit.”

“I don’t wanna!”

She thought Lance would leave well enough alone, but before she could realise it, he’d crowded her space and caught the bottom of her shirt. She wrestled with his hold, fighting his grip and trying to stop him from tugging her shirt off. They grappled with the hem of the shirt, Lance refusing to let go and Pidge stumbling backwards to try to get away. She tripped on her rug and tumbled down on the couch, the wind nearly knocked out of her when Lance also tripped and fell partially on top of her.

“Lance!” Pidge tried not to laugh when his hands brushed her abdomen and she was tickled. As it was, he had the advantage and she was trying to keep the hem down, but he had a better grip. “I’m serious! Stop trying to take off my shirt!”

“Hold still, you goblin, or I’ll sit on you and I won’t stop tickling you,” he said, though his threat was marred by the smile he was trying to hide.

Pidge squealed when he poked a finger in her bellybutton and in her momentary squirming to avoid his finger, he managed to pull the shirt up over her head until she couldn’t see. They got caught in her arms and she flailed her arms to keep him from getting the last bit of her shirt off. She heard Lance grunt in pain when she definitely made contact with what she assumed was his face.

“Even your sports bra is completely fucking dirty!”

“Lance, I’ll kick you in the nads! Don’t think I won’t!” she shouted, her voice absorbed in the cotton.

“Why do you have such an aversion to washing your damn clothes?!” Lance asked in exasperation.

“Umm, Katie? Darling…”

And Pidge froze when she heard her mother’s voice coming from the direction of her kitchen. Lance also stopped fighting with her, going completely still.

“I figured I should announce my presence before any of this progressed any further.”

Pidge shoved Lance off of her so fast he fell off the couch and tumbled to the ground. Her face was burning bright red as she yanked down and rearranged her shirt. She was _mortified_. How had she not realised her mother was in the apartment? Her bag was even on the coffee table in plain sight. Pidge could have accidentally said something about Lance’s genie secret.

“Mom, what are you doing here?!” Pidge gave Lance an apologetic look as he rose to his feet looking nonplussed.

“Don’t mind me.” Colleen chortled, playfully shielding her eyes with her hand. “I didn’t mean to disturb your personal time with your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!”

“Alright, fuck buddy then.”

Pidge sank down on her couch, rubbing her face with her hands and really wishing her mother would stop coming over unannounced like this.

“Mom, seriously. Why are you here?”

“Well, I was coming back from a work function and figured I could stop by quickly and clean up your apartment a bit, but I’m very surprised with how clean it is already. Everything arranged, sorted out, and the trash taken out? No mould on surfaces?” She turned to Lance. “This absolutely cannot be the work of my daughter. Was it you?”

Lance held out his hand which her mother took and shook. “Hi. Lance McClain. The fuck buddy.”

“ _Lance_!” Pidge growled though her mom laughed merrily. “He’s not my fuck buddy, Mom! And above that, I don’t even have one!”

“Your secret is safe with me. Anyway, I bought you some fresh fruit and I was thinking I could make you a fruit salad and—”

“Go home and relax, Mom.” Pidge sighed and stood up, heading over to her mother and grasping her shoulders to give her a little shake. “You don’t have to spend time worried about me. I’m managing fine.”

She pinched her cheek. “Oh, I know. You’ve always been independent, but you’ll always be my little baby.”

“I don’t need coddling,” Pidge reminded her, brushing the fingers off her ailing cheek. “Grown adult with her professional degrees and a steady job, yeah? You’ve gotta let me live.”

“Oh, I know, I know. I just love you so much.” She dropped a juicy kiss on Pidge’s forehead, and Pidge groaned when her mom engulfed her in a tight hug.

Annoyance notwithstanding, Pidge still hugged her back. It was irritating being treated as a baby, but Pidge knew why her mother acted like this most times. After they’d gotten Matt back, her mom had redoubled her efforts to make sure that both her children knew how much she loved them. At least for that, Pidge could understand. That whole time period had been traumatising for her mother, so Pidge knew she just wanted to see her children healthy as frequently as she could.

“That good enough for you?” Pidge said, leaning back. “Now go home and get some rest.”

“Alright, sweetheart. I’ll go.” Colleen picked up her satchel from the coffee table, looking around to see if there was anything else she could fix up. Pidge shook her head sternly and guided her towards the front door to leave. “I’ll try to bring a pot roast next week or something. Or some garlic roasted potatoes. Have you been eating enough? There wasn’t that much food in your fridge. Lance, it was nice to meet you. I hope we have more time to chat next time!”

By the time Pidge finally got her mother to walk out of the apartment door—but not without some ‘don’t forget to’ comments she slipped in—she sighed tiredly and rested her forehead against the door for a moment. When Pidge turned around, Lance was sitting on the couch, a distant and melancholic smile on his face. His whole demeanour was pretty down again and she winced, wondering if she’d done something to cause his current state. And just when she’d finally gotten his energy up again.

“I’m sorry,” Pidge said, locking her door and moving to open up the blinds of her window.

“What for?” Lance muttered dully with a heavy disinterest as he picked at his fingernails.

“I uh…” She didn’t really know, but between their fight for her t-shirt and her mom leaving, Lance’s mood had definitely soured. And Pidge was passively thinking that maybe it was because she was so vehement in her denials of a relationship between them. “You just seem kind of upset about something…”

“You and your mom really love each other, huh?” Lance commented quietly, picking at a fray on his jeans and not looking her in the eye. “You’re pretty close.”

“Yeah, I guess. She’s annoying sometimes, and we butt heads all the time, but I am glad she still cares enough to check up on me.” Pidge sat beside him on the couch, eyeing him sheepishly. “Are… are you and your mother close? Or were you? Umm… if you don’t mind me asking.”

“…The closest.” His gaze softened the slightest bit from reminiscing, but his shoulders were stiff and he had his fists clenched on his lap. “Always had a ready smile and hug for me, even when I did something bad and got in trouble. Nothing ever beat her hugs. You know, I would kill to be able to have my mom around fussing over me.”

“I bet you’re really looking forward to that then. Going back to being human and getting to see your mom.”

He nodded, not particularly looking at anything, and yet seemingly seeing so many things at once. “My mom, yeah. All of my family, really. My sisters are awesome but I have some turd older brothers. Still miss them though.”

“Oh I know _all_ about turd older brothers.”

He laughed. “Made even worse by the fact that I’m the baby of the family.”

“And once the baby, always the baby,” Pidge finished with a smile, shifting a little closer when Lance gave her an amused look. “So… with my five wishes, you’re 100% sure you’ll go back to being human?”

“That’s how it goes, yeah.”

Pidge chewed on her lower lip. “…Have you ever wondered if something might get messed up? Like, do you have a backup plan or something?”

“There is no alternative,” Lance growled, irritation seeping into his tone. “It _will_ work.”

Pidge still was worried, but she didn’t press. Really, it fell on her to make her wishes faster to help him get to his goal, but not only did she not know what she even wanted to wish for in the first place, she was kind of attached to him. Or at least, his presence was a current source of her happiness and she didn’t want to give that up. There was still so much she hadn’t really gotten to learn about him. Lance kept mum about a lot of things in his life, but whenever he dropped any information, it was just more confirmation to her that they were pretty compatible as friends. Once he went back to being human, she’d probably never see him again, and that was a shame because the past week had been somewhat… _magical_. (As cheesy as that sounded). The circumstances with which they’d met were weird, and she didn’t know if it was fate or something, but she was sure if it hadn’t been for the genie thing, she would have never met Lance McClain.

But this wasn’t about her.

This was about Lance, and he was teetering between frustration, true anger, his distress, and something very vengeful, and her priority right now was to stabilise his mood.

“You must really miss them.”

“I haven’t seen them in five years,” he admitted.

And Pidge did a double take. She hadn’t known that at all. That was horrifying. She couldn’t imagine never seeing her family for that long and not being able to talk to them at all either for all that time.

“God… and I’ve been over here talking about losing Matt for only one year when you haven’t seen your loved ones in five.” She ran a hand through her hair, hastening to apologise. “Plus complaining about my mom and you haven’t even… I’m so sorry, Lance.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not.” She hesitated for a moment but then set her hand on top of his closed fist, ignoring the weird tingles, and though she definitely felt Lance flinch at her touch, he didn’t jerk away from her. “I had no idea. I-if I had I wouldn’t have been so—”

“You can’t compare pain like that, Katie. Losing your brother was still just as hard for you as it is for me not seeing my family. Both are valid.” Lance cut her off gently, turning to her with an odd look on his face. “I appreciate the empathy. I really do, but it’s okay. The nightmare is almost over. So don’t worry about it. Really.”

“It probably doesn’t mean much coming from me, but… I’m really happy for you, Lance.” Her cheeks flushed when Lance searched her gaze, his eyes not wavering from her own. “I’m happy that I can be of use somehow to help you go back to being human.”

“It means a lot…”

Slowly, Lance’s fist unclenched and he turned his hand over, clasping hers in his and intertwining their fingers. He gave her a small squeeze, and she understood that was his way of saying thanks somehow. The gentle gesture made her heart race faster in her chest, but she tried not to think about what it meant too much. Lance was staring at their joined hands, a disturbed look on his face, and Pidge wondered if she was overstepping boundaries, but the fact that he hadn’t moved from the position made her feel like maybe it wasn’t as much of a problem as she was thinking.

But whatever had been conflicting him, he must have chucked away, because he closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them, that resolute determination had returned in his gaze.

“Katie…” Lance said softly, looking up and making eye contact.

Pidge found herself holding her breath. “Yes?”

“Give me that fucking shirt.”

She didn’t even have a chance to prepare herself or run away before he turned and pounced, grabbing the hem with a playful (and borderline dangerous) gleam in his eyes. Pidge struggled to free herself, pushing down the bottom of her shirt, but yet again, he had the advantage, and he refused to let it go, even using his leg to keep hers from colliding with his family jewels.

“Let me go, you Neanderthal!”

“Give me your dirty shirt, you gremlin!”

Pidge yelped with a laugh when he jabbed a finger in her stomach, plotting to get revenge against him one of these days.


End file.
